GRAND FORKS, N.D. – A retired North Dakota state senator, Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, pleaded guilty to sex tourism, specifically for travel to the Czech Republic for teen sex. Holmberg, age 80, was the longest-serving member of the Legislature in consecutive terms. He left the Legislature in 2022 after 45 years and chairing the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. According to federal investigators he made repeated trips to Prague from 2011 to 2016, for commercial sex. In a plea deal, Holmberg has agreed to plead guilty to sex tourism if charges of receiving child pornography be dropped. As part of the deal, prosecutors said they would seek a sentence at the low end of sentencing guidelines. The guideline max is 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Senate colleagues noted that Holmberg traveled internationally on taxpayer-funded cultural exchange trips through the organization Golden Bridges and that destinations included Prague. Unclear was whether those trips coincided with anything sexually. illicit.
Holmberg. Ignominious epilogue to record 45 years in North Dakota Senate.