Feds say former state lawmaker has history of exploiting vulnerable boys

Grand Forks Republican Ray Holmberg will be sentenced March 26 in Fargo. 

FARGO (KVRR) – Federal prosecutors say a former North Dakota state senator who pleaded guilty to traveling overseas with the intent of having sex with minors has a history of using his power to exploit vulnerable boys.

Ray Holmberg will be sentenced March 26 in Fargo.

According to a sentencing memorandum filed by Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl, the prosecution is recommending that Holmberg be sentenced to a term of 37 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

“The nature and extent of Holmberg’s criminal conduct—his persistently flying to a foreign country to engage in commercial sex with some of the most vulnerable boys in the world; his manipulation of a teenage, Canadian boy to produce sexually explicit images; his long history of leveraging his power and influence as a high school guidance counselor and a state legislator to exploit adolescent-age boys and men; and his insatiable sexual appetite for sex workers throughout the United States all necessitate a within-guideline sentence,” prosecutors wrote.

“Since 2011, he took more than 14 trips to Prague where he frequented a brothel that catered to homosexual men who were looking to engage in commercial sex with adolescent-age boys; expressly requested others to obtain boys for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex; and frequented a park adjacent to Wenceslas Square, a location where he purchased the services of adolescent-age boys for the purpose of sexual activity.”

The memorandum includes excerpts from graphic emails written by Holmberg under the alias “Sean Evan” while he traveled throughout the Czech Republic and Slovakia:

“It will be decadent but oh so much fun bro. what happens in Prague -Stays in Prague.”

“I do wanna go . . . wouldn’t it be fun. The boys rent at around $60 . . . (sex is extra)”

“There are only two requirements that I have to come and visit you soon. The airplane ticket must be a reasonable price, and you have to guarantee that I will have a boy to have sex with when I am there.”

Federal prosecutors say it is impossible to know how many boys Holmberg victimized in Prague and elsewhere because law enforcement was not able to identify them, in part, because his visits spanned more than a decade and they were homeless runaways who often lived in poverty.

“Even before Holmberg began traveling to Prague, he sexually exploited adolescent-age men throughout this country, some of whom he began grooming when they were underage students at Grand Forks Central High School and others over whom he leveraged his influence and power to obtain sexual favors while attending the University of North Dakota.”

Holmberg is 81. The Grand Forks Republican served in the legislature for 45 years before he resigned in 2022.

Read the Holmberg Sentencing Memorandum here. WARNING: Contains graphic language.