Ex-North Dakota lawmaker pleads guilty to traveling to Europe to pay for sex with a minor

A former North Dakota Republican lawmaker – who used to be one of the most powerful legislators in the state – has pleaded guilty to travelling to Europe with the intent of paying for sex with a minor.

Ray Holmberg, 80, of Grand Forks, appeared in federal court on Thursday where he admitted that he had engaged in sexual contact with young male masseuses on multiple trips to the Czech Republic during his time as a state senator – from around June 2011 to November 2016.

In court on Thursday, Assistant US Attorney Jennifer Puhl revealed that Holmberg had made 14 trips to Prague between 2011 to 2021 where he visited a hotel called Villa Mansland.

One of his travel companions described the villa as a brothel filled with teenage male masseuses, while another claimed he had paid for the nights at the villa because Holmberg did not want his name on records, prosecutors said.

Holmberg claimed he may have become aware of the villa online and admitted that he had sexual contact with “some of” the masseuses.

But he claimed he was not aware of the masseuses’ ages and also pointed out that the age of consent in the Czech Republic is 15, lower than in the US.

Travel records from the North Dakota School Boards Association show Holmberg had used public funding to pay for some trips to Amsterdam, Berlin and Prague in 2011, 2018 and 2019.

It is unclear if he had sex with minors on those specific trips.

The disgraced Republican was initially indicted in October 2023 on charges of traveling with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and receipt and attempted receipt of child sexual abuse material.

In June, he reached a plea deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to the first charge in exchange for the second charge being dropped.

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