GRAND FORKS, N.D. (KFGO) – Ray Holmberg, who was North Dakota’s – and one of the country’s – longest-serving state senators until he resigned last spring, has been indicted on federal charges of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and receipt of child pornography. He was arrested Monday morning in Grand Forks and appeared in a federal courtroom in Fargo Monday afternoon. Holmberg pleaded not guilty to the two counts against him.
The charges, filed October 26 and unsealed Monday, come two years after police and federal agents raided the 79-year-old’s home in Grand Forks.
A federal grand jury charged Holmberg with two counts. The indictment against him claims Holmberg traveled to the Czech Republic for the purpose of engaging in sex with a minor, and that he knowingly received child pornography. Court records show Holmberg’s offenses took place between June of 2011 and November 2016.
Holmberg, using a cane to walk, was escorted into the courtroom by U.S. Marshals just before 2:00 p.m. Monday. Magistrate Judge Alice Senechal asked Holmberg if he suffered from any physical illnesses or disabilities that would prevent him from understanding what was happening during the proceedings. Mark Friese, Holmberg’s defense attorney, responded that his client suffers from “some cognitive impairment,” but that he would assist Holmberg if needed. Holmberg said none of his ailments would prevent him from understanding the proceedings.
Senechal said the child sex tourism charge carries with it a 30-year maximum sentence and up to $250,000 in fines plus possible restitution to victims. The receipt of child pornography charge carries with it a 5-year mandatory-minimum sentence, and a 20-year maximum, with similar fines.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota Jennifer Puhl is prosecuting the case for the Government. She is joined by Charles Schmitz, an attorney from U.S. Department of Justice headquarters in Washington, D.C. The prosecutors agreed with the Pretrial Services recommendation that Holmberg be released to his home on supervision with electronic monitoring.
Holmberg is not allowed to possess a firearm or have contact with any victims or witnesses in the case as part of his release. He is also prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. Holmberg’s travel is restricted to Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, and Fargo for medical appointments and court dates only. He was commanded to surrender his passport and can only access the internet for specific reasons as approved by Pretrial Services.
Prosecutors said Holmberg used the internet to facilitate his crimes, namely to create a fake persona and build trust with a victim in the case. The indictment lists two aliases for Holmberg as “Sean Evan” and “Sean Evans.” Prosecutors said Holmberg also used the internet to share stories about his sexual offenses in foreign countries with others.
Last spring, the Fargo Forum reported that Holmberg had been communicating by text message with a man serving time in the Grand Forks County jail for child pornography charges. That man, Nicholas Morgan Derossier, pleaded guilty to seven counts of possession and distribution of child pornography in federal court last month.
Besides the jail texts, there are a number of connections between Derosier and Holmberg. In a previous evidentiary hearing in Derosier’s case it was revealed that Derosier’s former landscaping business partner had been killed in a work-site accident while the two were clearing snow at Holmberg’s residence. Authorities said Derosier was operating a front-end loader that ran over his business partner multiple times. Months later, the N.D. Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Protection and Antitrust issued an order of injunction to prohibit Derosier’s landscaping company from doing business and Derosier was overheard by investigators on the phone with the A.G.’s office trying to arrange for a meeting in Bismarck at a time when Holmberg needed to be there so that they could ride to the state capitol together.
Holmberg was one of the Legislature’s most powerful lawmakers for decades, serving as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He chaired the Legislative Management committee four times. The Republican legislator was first elected to his senate seat, serving Grand Forks’ District 17, in 1976.
He was reimbursed roughly $126,000 for nearly 70 out-of-state trips from 2013 to mid-April 2022 to places that included four dozen U.S. cities, as well as China, Canada, Puerto Rico and several European countries, according to an Associated Press review of his travel records.
Judge Daniel Hovland has been assigned the case after Chief Judge Peter Welte recused himself. A December 5, 2023 trial date was set.
