A federal judge in Fargo handed down a 10-year prison sentence on March 26, 2025, to Raymon “Ray” Holmberg, an 81-year-old Republican who spent 45 years representing Grand Forks in the North Dakota Senate.
The sentence, delivered by U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland, came in far above the 37 to 46 month range recommended under federal guidelines.
Holmberg pleaded guilty in August 2024 to traveling in foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct.
According to court documents, he traveled to Prague in the Czech Republic roughly 14 times between 2011 and 2021, where he stayed at a brothel known for arranging commercial sex with adolescent boys.
Investigators said he sometimes used the alias “Sean Evans” because witnesses told them he did not want his real name connected to the brothel’s registry, given his position as a sitting state legislator. He was also known to visit a public park near Prague’s main train station to find underage boys.
A Pattern Beyond Prague
Prosecutors argued the Prague trips were only part of a much longer history. Court filings describe Holmberg exploiting his former role as a high school counselor to pressure a Grand Forks Central High School student into appearing in sexual videos he recorded, and a separate case involving a University of North Dakota student who said he, too, was exploited by Holmberg.
Both men gave emotional victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing.
Investigators also tied Holmberg to Nicholas Morgan DeRosier, a Grand Forks man separately sentenced to 40 years for child pornography crimes.
According to testimony, an employee of Morgan DeRosier’s landscaping business told detectives he had sex with Holmberg in exchange for a contract from the senator. Prosecutors said this connection helped open the broader investigation into Holmberg.
Separately, the government’s sentencing memo described an online relationship Holmberg built with a teenage boy in Canada, in which he posed as a similarly aged teen to manipulate the boy into sending sexually explicit images of himself.
A Long Fall From Power
For years, Holmberg was considered one of the most influential figures in Bismarck, chairing both the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Legislative Management panel.
He resigned from office in June 2022, about six months earlier than planned, after a newspaper investigation revealed text messages he had exchanged with Morgan DeRosier while the latter was jailed on child sex abuse material charges.
At sentencing, Judge Hovland rejected the defense’s request for leniency based on Holmberg’s age and health, calling his behavior “egregious and despicable” and stating it reflected a pattern of vile, sickening criminal behavior rather than an isolated incident.
Holmberg addressed the court himself, attributing his actions to hubris, pride, and arrogance, and saying he had not worried about consequences because he felt entitled.
Holmberg must register as a sex offender and will serve 10 years of supervised release once his prison term ends. He is currently held at a federal medical facility in Rochester, Minnesota, with an earliest possible release date in 2033.
