Photo-Illustration: Megan Paetzhold/Intelligencer/Shutterstock/Getty Images On a cloudy afternoon last May, Cindy Pollok waited anxiously in the lobby of the Courtyard by Marriott at Newark Liberty International Airport. Four days earlier, New York Magazine had detailed the exploits of Lawrence Ray, the ex-felon who had moved into a dorm at Sarah Lawrence College in 2010 and drawn Cindy’s daughter Isabella and her friends into his dark web.
By that April, Ray, Felicia, and Isabella had been living in the Piscataway home for about four years. The house was owned by Scott Muller. Ray met Muller in Somerset County Jail, where Muller served a short sentence for drunk driving in 2008 and Ray had been awaiting his trial. According to two longtime friends of Muller’s, after his release, Muller often talked about Ray, whom he described as a former CIA agent.
In ways reminiscent of how Ray insinuated himself into the lives of his daughter’s classmates, Ray used that indebtedness as a foothold into Muller’s life. “Since they moved in, they’ve taken over his house, forcing out roommates and destroying his property and incurring massive property fines,” said Muller’s friend, who visited the home frequently, “while at the same time making my friend feel like it was his fault for not acting the way Larry wanted him to.
Muller’s yard began to look like a construction site, complete with industrial equipment, including a massive loader, an excavator, a dump truck, a backhoe, an external generator, and a concrete mixer. In satellite images, the backyard sticks out on the residential street like a blast site in the middle of suburban New Jersey. The new pool never materialized.
Later, around 2013, when Ray decamped with the young adults to Pinehurst, North Carolina, he instructed his daughter’s friends to tear up his 86-year-old stepfather’s property using industrial-grade equipment. In 2013, the Pinehurst Police Department received multiple complaints about machinery being used at the house after hours, according to police records obtained by a local newspaper, the Pilot.
At times, Muller seemed tired of the way his house guests were treating him and his property. One friend says Muller recently broke down crying, saying, “These people took over my house.” Last year, Muller’s friends encouraged him to take out a temporary restraining order against Ray.