NEW YORK — The bizarre charges against Lawrence Ray have divided his family, pitting those who support the accused Sarah Lawrence College sex cult leader against those who see him as a monster.
Among those opposed to Ray, whose trial begins Tuesday in Manhattan Federal Court with jury selection, are his ex-wife and brother, who are now dating, according to a member of the Ray family who declined to be named.
The family member says she’s also not among Ray’s supporters.
“I didn’t expect that from him. ... He was a totally different person from what I knew,” she said.
Ray’s ex-wife, Teresa, declined to comment.
“I’m not interested in commenting on anything going on,” said a sighing Teresa Ray when reached by the Daily News.
Firmly in Lawrence Ray’s camp is his biological father, who prosecutors say worked with his son to try to intimidate witnesses in the case.
“Nobody turns on my son. I’m 82 years old. I don’t care they could give me 15 to 20 years,” Ray’s father allegedly told one witness.
Lawrence Ray, 62, is charged with mentally and physically abusing a small group of college students. In one of many strange twists in the case, he allegedly met many of his victims in 2010 through his daughter, when she was a student at the small liberal arts college north of New York City in Westchester County.
“People [in the family] took different sides,” said the Ray family member who asked not to be named. “It’s a very mixed feeling.”
Prosecutors in Ray’s trial are expected to elicit salacious and disturbing testimony from his accusers, with only the jury granted access to certain graphic audio and video.
As part of Ray’s conspiracy, he forced some members of his cohort to have sex, make videos of themselves having sex and record false confessions about how they had wronged Ray, prosecutors said. Ray used the confessions as blackmail material should they ever consider leaving his orbit, according to the feds.
In yet another strange twist, Ray served as best man at the 1998 wedding of former NYPD Commissioner Bernie Kerik. Kerik and Ray later had a falling-out — and evidence in the case has revealed that Ray remains obsessed with the former top cop. Ray has said Kerik poisoned him. Court filings hint that Ray was obsessed with being poisoned, which he blamed for health problems. Prosecutors say Ray even convinced some of his victims that they had poisoned him.
Kerik adamantly denied ever poisoning Ray, laughing at the idea. He noted that he first became concerned when he found out that Ray had bought the domain names for websites using the names of Kerik’s daughters and renewed them every year.
“I was shocked. That’s when I really got concerned. ... I was concerned for my family,” Kerik said.
Ray had his followers do all manner of work for him, from installing an irrigation system in a property in North Carolina to maintaining the home in New Jersey where he lived when he was arrested — in bed with his daughter’s former college roommate, according to the feds.
One of the college students, Isabella Pollok, became a trusted confidant of Ray and was indicted by the feds last year. She and Ray forced their victims to do manual labor for no pay, and even made one female victim perform sex work, record it and give them the earnings, prosecutors charge.
Ray faces a maximum of life in prison if found guilty of all charges.
The family member said she was stunned by the indictment against Ray, which she said described a relative she didn’t recognize.
“I’ve known him since I was young since I was 20. He was always a hard worker. If he could help someone out he was always there,” the family member said. “I was pretty much shocked. ... It’s just a horrible situation.”
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