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Man who lived in daughter’s Sarah Lawrence College dorm convicted of sex trafficking, forced labor and other federal crimes

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Man who lived in daughter’s Sarah Lawrence College dorm convicted of sex trafficking, forced labor and other federal crimes

“Twelve years in the past, Larry Ray moved into his daughter’s dorm room at Sarah Lawrence School,” US Lawyer Damian Williams mentioned within the information launch. “And when he obtained there, he met a gaggle of pals who had their complete lives forward of them. For the following decade, he used violence, threats, and psychological abuse to attempt to management and destroy their lives. He exploited them. He terrorized them. He tortured them. Let me be very clear. Larry Ray is a predator. An evil man who did evil issues.”

Williams thanked the victims who spoke in court docket, noting the decision would not have been attainable with out their testimony. “We’re in awe of their bravery within the face of unbelievable trauma,” he added.

CNN has reached out to Ray’s lawyer, Marne Lenox, for remark.

  • Racketeering conspiracy
  • Conspiracy to commit extortion
  • Extortion
  • Intercourse trafficking
  • Acquiring pressured labor
  • Compelled labor trafficking
  • Conspiracy to acquire pressured labor
  • Violating the Journey Act
  • 4 counts of tax evasion
  • Cash laundering

The intercourse trafficking conviction comes with a compulsory minimal sentence of 15 years and a most of life in jail.

Over a interval of years, Ray sexually and psychologically manipulated and abused a gaggle of school college students and different victims, in accordance with the Division of Justice.

He extorted funds from victims after getting them to make false confessions about inflicting damages to him, his household and associates, in accordance with the indictment. Victims drained their mother and father financial savings, opened credit score traces and offered actual property possession to pay Ray. He additionally directed the victims to do unpaid labor for him and earn cash for him via prostitution.

Ray pressured one lady to interact in business intercourse acts to pay damages to Ray — cash she by no means owed, in accordance with the US Lawyer’s Workplace. Ray groomed her when she was a university pupil and picked up sexually express images and different data to coerce her to commit extra business intercourse acts, the workplace mentioned.

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In a single occasion of Ray’s alleged brutality, he tied the girl to a chair, put a plastic bag over her head and practically suffocated her, in accordance with the indictment. He collected tens of millions of {dollars} of pressured prostitution proceeds from this sufferer, in accordance with the US Lawyer’s Workplace.

Prosecutors mentioned in 2020 that the investigation was prompted by an April 2019 journal article titled “The Stolen Children of Sarah Lawrence,” revealed on New York journal’s The Reduce. The personal liberal arts school has about 1,700 college students and is situated in Yonkers, New York.

CNN’s Steve Almasy contributed to this report.

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Two Bodies Found in Plane’s Landing Gear at Fort Lauderdale Airport

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Two Bodies Found in Plane’s Landing Gear at Fort Lauderdale Airport

Two bodies were discovered in the landing gear compartment of a JetBlue plane on Monday after a flight to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the airline said in a statement on Tuesday.

JetBlue Flight 1801 departed Kennedy Airport in New York at 7:49 p.m. Monday and landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport at 11:10 p.m., according to flight tracker data. The bodies were discovered during a routine post-flight maintenance assessment of the plane, the airline said.

Paramedics pronounced the two people dead at the scene, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. It was unclear how long the people had been in the landing gear compartment.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages Kennedy Airport, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how the individuals may have gained access to the aircraft.

Landing gear compartments, located under an aircraft’s wings and at the front of the plane, have long been used by people attempting to travel undetected on airplanes. The airline did not say whether the two people who were found dead on Monday were stowaways.

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Such attempts to hide in landing gear compartments have proven deadly in the past. The compartments open and close upon takeoff and landing to deploy and retract wheels and other landing components, and other stowaways have fallen to their deaths from the openings, sometimes landing in public spaces along flight paths.

Those who can stay within the compartment risk being crushed by landing gear when it is withdrawn back into the aircraft, along with other hazards, including severe temperatures, pressure changes and lack of oxygen. Many stowaways die of hypothermia.

As recently as Christmas Day, a body was discovered in a wheel well of a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Hawaii. In 2023, a man was found alive in a landing gear compartment after a commercial flight from Algeria to France, though he was suffering from severe hypothermia.

An investigation was underway on Tuesday to determine the identities of the two individuals discovered in Fort Lauderdale and how they might have accessed the aircraft before it departed from New York, JetBlue said.

“This is a heartbreaking situation, and we are committed to working closely with authorities to support their efforts to understand how this occurred,” the airline said.

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Meta ends third party fact-checking scheme

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Meta ends third party fact-checking scheme

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Facebook owner Meta is ending its third party fact-checking programme and will instead rely on its users to flag misinformation.

The social media platform on Tuesday said it would “allow more speech by lifting restrictions on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse and focusing our enforcement on illegal and high-severity violations” and “take a more personalised approach to political content”.

Starting in the US, Meta will move to a so-called “community notes” model, similar to the one employed by Elon Musk’s X, which allows users to add context to controversial or misleading posts. Meta itself will not write community notes.

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Jimmy Carter’s body set to be transferred today to Washington, D.C., for state funeral

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Jimmy Carter’s body set to be transferred today to Washington, D.C., for state funeral

Former President Jimmy Carter‘s casket is being transferred Tuesday to Washington, D.C., for the next phase of his state funeral.

Carter has been lying in repose in Atlanta, as part of six days of observances that began Saturday with a service at his boyhood home in Plains, Georgia. 

“This is somebody from a small town in south Georgia who was a peanut farmer who ultimately became the president of the United States,” said Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter, at the Plains service on Saturday. “It’s a pretty remarkable American story.”

Carter, the 39th president, died on Dec. 29 at the age of 100 — living longer than any president in U.S. history. His beloved wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, died in November 2023.

On Tuesday, Carter’s body will be flown from Atlanta to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where his casket will be transferred with ceremony to a hearse. From there, a motorcade will proceed to the U.S. Navy Memorial, where his casket will then be transferred from a hearse to a horse-drawn caisson with ceremony.

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Jimmy Carter
Members of the joint services military honor guard conduct a changing of the guard near the casket of former President Jimmy Carter as he lies in repose at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, on Jan. 6, 2025. Carter died Dec. 29 at the age of 100. 

Erik S. Lesser / AP


The caisson will travel to the U.S. Capitol, where Carter’s casket will be carried up the stairs into the Rotunda by military body bearers. Members of Congress will be able to pay their respects during a service.

Beginning Tuesday afternoon, Carter will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until Thursday, when his funeral service will be held at the National Cathedral before his remains are flown back to Georgia. President Biden is will be delivering a eulogy at Thursday’s service, along with several others. President-elect Donald Trump said he will attend

There will be a final private service in Plains, and Carter will be buried next to Rosalynn Carter at his family’s peanut farm. 

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Full schedule of Tuesday’s events (all times Eastern): 

  • 9:30 a.m.: A departure ceremony from the Carter Presidential Center.
  • 10 a.m.: The motorcade departs for Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Georgia.
  • 10:40 a.m.: The late president and his family arrive at Dobbins Air Reserve Base and board Special Air Mission 39 after an arrival ceremony.
  • 11:15 a.m.: Special Air Mission 39 departs for Washington.
  • 12:45 p.m.: Special Air Mission 39 arrives at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, and Carter’s remains are transferred with ceremony to the hearse.
  • 1:15 p.m.: The motorcade departs for the U.S. Navy Memorial.
  • 2 p.m.: The motorcade arrives at the U.S. Navy Memorial and Carter’s remains are transferred from a hearse to a horse drawn caisson with ceremony.
  • 2:15 p.m.: The funeral procession begins marching up to the U.S. Capitol via Pennsylvania Avenue, turning left onto Constitution Avenue.
  • 2:40 p.m.: Upon arrival at the U.S. Capitol, the late president is carried up the stairs by military body bearers and into the Rotunda.
  • 3 p.m.: Congress pays their respects during a service in the Rotunda.
  • 3:45 p.m.: Carter begins lying in state while the military maintains a guard of honor.
  • 7 p.m. to midnight: Lying in state opens to the public.

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