Powerful former North Dakota lawmaker pleads guilty to traveling to Europe to pay for sex with minor

FARGO, N.D. -- A high-profile former North Dakota lawmaker who was one of the most powerful members of the Legislature pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to a charge that he traveled to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with a minor.

Ray Holmberg, 80, of Grand Forks, was indicted in October 2023 for travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and receipt and attempted receipt of child sexual abuse material. The Republican served more than 45 years in the North Dakota Senate before resigning in 2022. He initially pleaded not guilty and a trial was scheduled for September.

Under a plea agreement he signed in June, Holmberg agreed to plead guilty to the former charge, and prosecutors would move to dismiss the latter and recommend a sentence at the low end of the guideline range.

The travel charge carries maximum penalties of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release.

In the plea agreement, Holmberg acknowledged that from around June 2011 to November 2016, he “repeatedly traveled from Grand Forks, North Dakota to Prague, Czech Republic with a motivating purpose of engaging in commercial sex with adolescent-age individuals under the age of 18 years.”

Holmberg has been under numerous conditions of release, including travel restrictions, location monitoring and the surrender of his passport.

On Friday, the pretrial services officer filed a report saying Holmberg hadn’t met those conditions.

She wrote that he was verbally reprimanded and reminded of his pretrial release conditions after he left his residence once and also visited an adult novelty store, each without approval. He also “continuously” accessed the internet for unapproved reasons and did not allow updates and maintenance to the monitoring software on his cellular device, she said.

In May, Holmberg admitted to using alcohol after testing positive. Later that month, he was told to remove an unapproved iPad from his home, and the judge added a condition restricting Holmberg’s access to electronic devices.

Since then, he continued to access the internet for unapproved reasons, the officer wrote.

“Due to the statutory mandate of detention, respectfully, the defendant is not viewed as a suitable candidate for self-surrender,” U.S. Pretrial Services Officer Christine Argall wrote.

Holmberg’s attorney, Mark Friese, declined an interview request. Holmberg was not arrested.

Former U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon said the report is a routine filing but the alleged violations are serious, given the nature of Holmberg’s case.

“I am particularly troubled by the idea that he’s accessing the internet on unapproved devices that are not being monitored. That is really concerning when you’ve got somebody facing the charges of the type he was facing,” Purdon said. It is not unusual that Holmberg wasn’t arrested, he added.

Holmberg served in the state Senate from 1976 until mid-2022. He initially announced he wouldn’t seek reelection, but he resigned following reporting from The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead that he exchanged dozens of text messages with a man in jail for child sexual abuse material.

For many years, Holmberg chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee, which writes budgets. He also chaired the Legislative Management panel, which handles various business between biennial sessions. That job let him approve his own travel.

Records obtained by The Associated Press showed Holmberg took dozens of trips throughout the U.S. and to other countries since 1999. Destinations included cities in more than 30 states, as well as Canada, Puerto Rico and Norway.

Earlier this year, the North Dakota School Boards Association returned about $142,000 to the state and ended its role in the Global Bridges teacher exchange program months after releasing travel records following Holmberg’s indictment that showed he utilized state funds when he traveled to Prague and other European cities in 2011, 2018 and 2019.

It’s unclear whether the misconduct alleged by authorities occurred during any of those trips.

The factors in Holmberg’s case make it arguably the most significant political scandal in North Dakota history, Purdon said.

“You have a very high-profile politician. You have literally the worst allegation you possibly could come up with, the sexual abuse and rape of a child,” he said. “And then you have the idea that tax dollars paid for the plane ticket.”