Former U.S. state senator sentenced for sex acts with minors, online relationship with Canadian teen

North Dakota Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, speaks on the Senate floor at the state Capitol in Bismarck, N.D., in November 2021. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)

An ex-North Dakota Republican state senator was sentenced last March to 10 years in prison for repeatedly travelling to Prague, Czechia, to engage in sexual acts with minors – including manipulating a Canadian 16-year-old boy into sending him explicit photos.

Raymon (Ray) Everett Holmberg, 81, of Grand Forks, N.D., travelled to the European city approximately 14 times between 2011 and 2021 -- where he visited a brothel that catered to men seeking sex with adolescent boys, according to a news release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

Holmberg used an alias “Sean Evans” as witnesses told law enforcement the legislator did not want his name on the brothel’s registry. Holmberg also used the “Evans” alias to tell friends about his trips and encourage them to travel to Prague.

“Holmberg boasted about having sexual activity with boys as young as 12 and 15 during his travels,” according to the DOJ.

Holmberg had an online relationship with a 16-year-old Canadian boy and posed as a boy of a similar age “in order to manipulate the Canadian teen into taking images of himself engaging in sexually explicit conduct before sending them to Holmberg,” the DOJ said.

On Aug. 8, 2024, Holmberg pleaded guilty to one count of travelling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct.

Records previously obtained by The Associated Press show that Holmberg made dozens of trips throughout the U.S. and to other countries since 1999.

Holmberg served as a North Dakota state legislator for 45 years. He resigned in 2022 after The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reported on his many text messages with a man in jail in connection with child sexual abuse material.