'Stolen Youth' on Hulu details NJ man's decade of abuse, manipulation, sex trafficking

This is not Larry Ray’s story.

Ray made national headlines in 2020 when he was arrested at his Piscataway home and charged with sex trafficking, forced labor and extortion after more than a decade of controlling the lives of his daughter’s former college roommates.

“Stolen Youth: Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence,” a new three-part documentary from director Zach Heinzerling chronicling the rise and fall of Ray’s power, premieres Thursday, Feb. 9, on Hulu. But the series is about those who survived their time with him.

“In the end, the North Star was to make something that the survivors could watch and see themselves in in an honest way, but also support and get behind,” said Heinzerling.

The film never shies away from the shocking and disturbing nature of Ray’s crimes and his cruelty, but it documents the abuse in a way that is respectful to his survivors. Heinzerling explained that he, his editors and producers had a “constant system of checks and balances” in place to ensure that the story was told sensitively.

Ray, 63, made millions of dollars by forcing his victims into labor and sex work. A Manhattan federal court sentenced him to 60 years in prison last month.

As detailed in “Stolen Youth” Ray, formerly of Warren, moved into his daughter’s dormitory at New York’s Sarah Lawrence College in 2010. He was viewed at first as an inconvenience before he ingratiated himself as a friend, an adviser, and eventually an all-controlling guru.

Ray moved with his followers to a Manhattan apartment, then to North Carolina, and eventually to the home in Piscataway where he was arrested in 2020, following the 2019 publication of an exposé in New York magazine.

One of Ray’s victims, Lebanon native Daniel Levin, discussed his experiences in the 2021 book “Slonim Woods 9,” and emailed Heinzerling, an Oscar nominee for the 2013 documentary “Cutie and the Boxer.”

“For him, the idea behind doing a documentary was he felt like there was so much more to this story than the (New York) article was able to convey,” said Heinzerling. “And he felt an obligation to make sure that whatever was going to come out film-wise, series-wise, would be done responsibly and with the consent of the survivors.”

Crucially, “Stolen Youth” provides insight into unsettling audio and video documentation of life in the cult that came to light during Ray’s trial.

“For (the survivors), it was important for the videos to be presented with context, so people could understand what was really going on when you’re seeing somebody screaming or somebody being hit with a hammer,” said Heinzerling. “Why are they in that situation? How did they get there? What’s the beginning, middle and end and everything in between?”

While Heinzerling described Ray as “a singular evil like no other I’ve ever encountered in the history of my reading of manipulative psychopaths,” he explained that Ray’s tactics of manipulation and abuse are frighteningly common.

“Parts of what are as common as domestic abuse or domestic violence are inherent in every cult,” Heinzerling said. “And you see this kind of thing that Larry was doing is extremely common. It just usually doesn’t get to the place of a sex-trafficking ring.”

Heinzerling hopes “Stolen Youth” can changes viewers’ conceptions about what it means to fall victim to a cult.

“... I think a lot of the time ... we almost judge the victim and feel like, ‘Well, this couldn’t be me,’ ” he said. "And hopefully in the process of watching this documentary you do relate to some of these individuals and see yourselves in their shoes because you can’t necessarily boil this down to a formula of how this happens. It can really happen to anyone.”

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Sarah Lawrence College cult exposed in Stolen Youth Hulu series