A North Dakota state senator, formerly one of the most powerful people in the state, was sentenced Wednesday to 10 years in prison for flying to Europe to have sex with underage boys.
Ray Holmberg, 81, had pleaded guilty to traveling to Prague 14 times between 2011 and 2021 to meet minors at a brothel. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors recommended a sentence of only three to four years in prison.
But Judge Daniel Hovland went above and beyond the recommendation, telling the court Holmberg’s “egregious and despicable” conduct deserved a longer prison term.
“From my perspective, this was not an isolated case and this is not a victimless crime,” Hovland said, according to the North Dakota Monitor. “It displays a pattern of very vile, sickening criminal behavior.”
Holmberg was first elected to the North Dakota Senate in 1977 and served until 2022, when he resigned after being connected to a child sex predator. In addition to the flights to Prague to meet underage boys, Holmberg was also accused of predatory behavior closer to home.
Investigators said from 2012 to 2013 he posed as a teenage boy in internet chatrooms, eventually convincing a 16-year-old Canadian to send him nude photos. The boy later died by suicide in 2021.
Additionally, students at the University of North Dakota said Holmberg would invite them to school hockey games with chances to meet powerful politicians. The understanding was they would repay him with sexual favors, prosecutors said.
At least one of Holmberg’s trips to Prague also happened with taxpayer money, according to investigators.
“Holmberg’s offending conduct over the course of decades…can only be described as corruption,” Acting North Dakota U.S. Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl wrote in court documents. “He used his position to serve his own ends.”
Holmberg has been detained at a prison in Minnesota since November.
With News Wire Services
