FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A high-profile former North Dakota lawmaker who was one of the most powerful members of the state Legislature - not just for ND but nationally, partially because he was tied for the longest serving state legislator in the land - has pleaded guilty in federal court today to a charge that he traveled to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with a minor.
Ray Holmberg (former North Dakota lawmaker who was one of the most powerful members of the state Legislature) 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 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, and utilized state funds when he traveled to Prague and other European cities in 2011, 2018 and 2019.
The factors in Holmberg’s case make it arguably the most significant political scandal in North Dakota history, Former U.S. Attorney Tim 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.”
A second charge of receipt and attempted receipt of child sexual abuse material was dropped as a part of the plea-bargain, but it sounds like he’s failed to follow most, maybe even all, of his conditions for self-surrender, so the next steps might be interesting to watch.
More, and increasingly disturbing, info available
on Inforum, including Holmberg‘s contention that he didn’t think he broke any laws, and that “no one is ever too young.”
