Ex-North Dakota lawmaker pleads guilty to traveling to Europe to pay for sex with a minor

A former North Dakota Republican lawmaker – who used to be one of the most powerful legislators in the state – has pleaded guilty to travelling to Europe with the intent of paying for sex with a minor.

Ray Holmberg, 80, of Grand Forks, appeared in federal court on Thursday where he admitted that he had engaged in sexual contact with young male masseuses on multiple trips to the Czech Republic during his time as a state senator – from around June 2011 to November 2016.

Holmberg also used public funding to pay for some of the trips.

In court on Thursday, Assistant US Attorney Jennifer Puhl revealed that Holmberg had made 14 trips to Prague between 2011 to 2021 where he visited a hotel called Villa Mansland.

One of his travel companions described the villa as a brothel filled with teenage male masseuses, while another claimed he had paid for the nights at the villa because Holmberg did not want his name on records, prosecutors said.

Holmberg claimed he may have become aware of the villa online and admitted that he had sexual contact with “some of” the masseuses.

But he claimed he was not aware of the masseuses’ ages and also pointed out that the age of consent in the Czech Republic is 15, lower than in the US.

Travel records from the North Dakota School Boards Association show Holmberg had used public funding to finance trips to Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague in 2011, 2018 and 2019.

It is unclear if he had sex with minors on those specific trips.

The disgraced Republican was initially indicted in October 2023 on charges of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and receipt and attempted receipt of child sexual abuse material.

In June, he reached a plea deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the first charge in exchange for the second charge being dropped.

He faces up to 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.

However the judge said federal sentencing guidelines provide a range between three and four years in prison for a case such as this.

Holmberg will also be required to register as a sex offender.

No sentencing date has been set.

Holmberg spent nearly 50 years in the state Senate where he was a longtime, powerful figure in North Dakota politics.

He retired in 2022 following a report from The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead which exposed dozens of text messages sent between him and Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier, who is now serving a 40-year prison sentence for possessing child porn.

Holmberg is also a former teacher and school counselor, having working for Grand Forks Public Schools between 1967 and 2002.

In November, a state panel voted unanimously to suspend his lifetime teaching license with the intention of revoking it immediately upon conviction or a guilty plea.