Powerful former North Dakota lawmaker pleads guilty to traveling to Europe to pay for sex with minor

Associated Press

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A powerful former North Dakota lawmaker has pleaded guilty to traveling to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with a minor. Ray Holmberg was indicted in October 2023. The 80-year-old Republican from Grand Forks served more than 45 years in the North Dakota Senate and resigned in 2022. A prosecutor said that Holmberg made 14 trips to Prague from 2011 to 2021 and frequented a villa that one travel companion described as a brothel that had teenage male masseuses. Holmberg admitted to having sexual contact with some of his masseuses but said he did not know for certain how old they were.