Larry Ray’s 'aide' Isabella Pollok claims she was 'no less of a victim' as sentence date approaches
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: An ex-Sarah Lawrence student, who allegedly helped criminal Lawrence "Larry" Ray in his evil acts, has now claimed that she herself was a sufferer while being with the sex cult leader. Isabella Pollok’s stand has come days before she will be sentenced on February 22 after she pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy. It has been said that she could face up to five years in jail as well as a fine of $250,000.
The 31-year-old had admitted to working as a co-conspirator to Ray, as per reports. She also confessed that she was involved in the sex trafficking of one of her pals, Claudia Drury, with him, and laundered millions of dollars she got during that period but now her attorneys have tried to portray her as a victim, Law & Crime reported.
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'I saw it as an opportunity to escape all hardships'
In a letter to a federal judge, lawyers representing Pollok, David B Bertan and Jill R. Shellow, stated, “This prosecution reveals four phases of Isabella Pollok’s life: There is the damaged, lonely Sarah Lawrence College freshman. There is the awed protégé. There is the broken automaton. And now there is the Isabella who is before Your Honor prepared to be sentenced. If it were not for Lawrence Ray’s presence at Sarah Lawrence, Isabella would not be here. She does not deserve to go to jail.”
Besides, Pollok herself reportedly sent letters to the judge and prosecutors. Addressing the three Assistant US Attorneys and the US District Judge Lewis Liman in two separate handwritten notes, she explained, “When I started at Sarah Lawrence College in 2009, I saw it as an opportunity to escape all the hardships in my life.”
'I wish I had been able to view the world then as I do now'
“I felt I was sinking into the quicksand of what would have mirrored my parents and my brother, addicts with no direction,” the woman continued. Pollok added, “For the longest time I believed that at nineteen years old, I was an adult and therefore in complete control of my mindset. I wish I had been able to view the world then as I do now. Attending Sarah Lawrence was my way of trying to run away from traumas that I experienced in my childhood.”
It was reported that the letter by Pollok also saw her mentioning Ray’s daughter, Talia, with whom she shared a friendship. She shared, “Talia was good to me, I trusted her and her trust in him was enough. At that point in time, he did save my life. There is no question that I wanted to make my family suffer for the way they made me suffer and the only way I believed I could do it was to commit suicide back in Texas during Christmas break.”
'I'm now asking for a second chance'
The woman naming all Ray’s victims reportedly said in the letters, “I trusted Lawrence more than I trusted myself and in doing so, I betrayed my own sense of right and wrong. This trust became a sort of blind faith. Lawrence convinced me that Claudia, Santos, Yali, Felicia and Dan poisoned me and were constantly trying to hurt me, just as he convinced them that they were doing these things.”
“I know I committed serious crimes and I fully accept responsibility for my actions. I am not the same person who met Lawrence Ray over 10 years ago. I know this request comes late. Lawrence’s hold over me changed who I was and it continues to be a healing process. With the help and love of others I have freed myself from the past. I am still a work in progress but know to the extent that I can make amends for the harm I have caused I am willing. I’m now asking for a second chance,” Pollok concluded.
'He had made her his lover'
Besides, her attorneys have claimed that though Ray victimized Pollok, the man’s “manipulation of Isabella was different in kind from the other student-victims.” Bertan and Shellow noted, “Among other things he had made her his lover. But she was no less a victim.”