A former Republican lawmaker in North Dakota has pleaded guilty to traveling overseas to pay for sex with minor boys.
Ray Holmberg, 80, of Grand Forks, N.D. took approximately 14 trips to Prague, Czech Republic, between June 2011 and November 2016 to engage in commercial sex acts with underage boys, according to a press release from the Justice Department.
Prosecutors say Holmberg used the alias ‘Sean Evans’ while staying at a brothel where young boys provided commercial sexual services and to convince a child to send him sexually explicit images.
He also used the alias in communications with friends about the trips.
Holmberg allegedly discussed “his twink,” in these communications and commented that “no one is ever too young . . . remember Prague.” In other messages he discussed going to a well known brothel in Prague, saying “the boys rent at around $60 (sex is extra).”
He added later in the communications, “it will be decadent but oh so much fun bro. What happens in Prague—Stays in Prague.” In another message, Holmberg requested that an employee at the brothel find him a “kid,” according to the DOJ.
Holmberg was arrested last year in Grand Forks and charged with traveling to Europe with the intent of paying for sex with a minor and with receiving images depicting child sexual abuse.
He accepted a deal in June to plead guilty to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and register as a sex offender. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed his other charge.
He faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release.
Holmberg served in the North Dakota senate for more than four decades and chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. He retired in 2022 following a report that he exchanged text messages with a man jailed on child porn charges.
