FARGO — Former state Sen. Ray Holmberg has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for traveling abroad to sexually abuse children, a sentence more than three times what prosecutors recommended.
North Dakota U.S. Judge Daniel Hovland handed down the 120-month sentence on Wednesday, March 26, to the 81-year-old Grand Forks Republican. Federal sentencing guidelines suggested he should serve 37 to 46 months after admitting to traveling to Prague from 2011 to 2016 with plans to sexually abuse children as part of the commercial sex trade.
In exchange for a guilty plea, prosecutors promised to ask for a sentence on the lower end of those guidelines. North Dakota Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl argued for 37 months, while Holmberg’s attorney, Mark Friese, asked for Holmberg to receive home confinement or time served.
Hovland asked Holmberg about comments he made in messages to close friends and others about having sex with boys. In one message, he told a cooperating witness that he “got rewarded for my sins in Prague” with a flight upgrade from Amsterdam to Minneapolis.
“I’m still trying to figure out why anyone would brag about sexual prowess with minors,” Hovland said.
“That’s one of my many quirks,” Holmberg responded.
Hovland called Holmberg’s actions "vile," "despicable" and "reprehensible."
“No matter how any reasonable person reads this case, 37 to 46 months isn’t a sufficient sentence," Hovland said.
The maximum sentence was 30 years in prison. Holmberg will have to register as a sex offender.
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He has 14 days to appeal the decision.
'I am a human being'
The nearly seven-hour hearing shed light on what led up to the investigation, key witnesses in the case and graphic details about Holmberg's actions. Holmberg was indicted in late 2023.
Investigators started looking into Holmberg after an employee of Nicholas Morgan-Derosier told detectives he had sex with Holmberg at the behest of Morgan-Derosier as late as July 2021, Homeland Security Special Agent Dan Casetta said Wednesday.
Morgan-Derosier ran a landscaping company called Team Lawn and asked his employee to have sex with Holmberg to get a landscaping contract from the then-senator.
The employee was not paid for his part, Casetta said.
Prosecutors said Morgan-Derosier and Holmberg watched sexually explicit material involving children together.
Casetta also mentioned text messages Morgan-Derosier and Holmberg exchanged in August 2021 while Morgan-Derosier was jailed on child sex abuse materials charges. Holmberg asked Morgan-Derosier to bring his 19- or 20-year-old boyfriend over for a massage, Casetta said.
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"I'll be sure to cut my nails so I don't scratch his back this time," Holmberg said, according to Casetta.
The Forum reported the text messages in April 2022. Holmberg denied to The Forum any knowledge of a text about massages.
Shortly after the story was published, Holmberg resigned from his Senate seat. He represented parts of Grand Forks County from 1977 to 2022.
Morgan-Derosier is serving a 40-year federal sentence for trading child sex abuse material.
Holmberg had a history of targeting young men when he was a lawmaker, long before his visits to Prague, according to prosecutors. One cooperating witness, who testified Wednesday, said Holmberg took him and other students to University of North Dakota hockey games, where they met powerful political figures like the governor, according to court documents.
In exchange, the man was expected to have sex with Holmberg, court documents said. He was not charged in connection to those allegations.
The UND student was 26 years old, Friese noted, adding that sex with him was legal.
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The student said he was terrified that Holmberg could use his power to destroy him. The former senator's actions will traumatize him for the rest of his life, the student said.
Another witness said he met Holmberg in the mid-1990s, when Holmberg was a counselor at Grand Forks Central High School. The student said he came from an abusive home and was addicted to drugs, so he relied on Holmberg as a "trusted confidant."
After moving to Spokane, Washington, and relapsing, the student reached out to Holmberg for money, according to court documents. The student said Holmberg would send money if the student recorded sexually explicit videos of himself. Holmberg sent him a video recorder and $200 per video, the student said.
The student, whom investigators believed was older than 18 at the time the videos were made, said he accepted the money to feed his drug addiction.
Holmberg also flew to Spokane to record the student, according to Casetta. Watching the video years later to help investigators identify the student "broke his heart," the student said.
"I learned from Mr. Holmberg that I could exchange my body for money," the student said. "The damage has lasted a lifetime."
The student returned to Grand Forks to help with cleanup during the 1997 flood, he said. During that time, Holmberg paid the student for sex numerous times.
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Holmberg also sexually assaulted the sleeping student at a hotel in Bismarck in 2012, the student said. The case was reported to police, but charges were not pursued, prosecutors said.
The student said he is happy that Holmberg has been stopped in his tracks and won't hurt anyone else. He called Holmberg a predator.
"This is not about revenge," the student said. "This is about accountability."
The student has been sober from drugs for 13 years, he said. He criticized the defense's attempts to insinuate that his addiction made him less valuable.
"I have a name," the student said. "I'm a human being. These are things that happened."
The Forum does not identify victims of sexual assault.
'Mob mentality'
Puhl acknowledged the sentence recommendations were light. Had prosecutors located victims, they could have asked for a lengthier sentence, she said.
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"It's clear that he traveled (to Prague) 14 times because he was hunting for boys," Puhl said.
Holmberg targeting young men in North Dakota wasn't a crime, but it was morally corrupt, she said.
Friese asked the judge to "reject the mob mentality and consider the relevant facts" of the case. Friese said his client should be sentenced based on the facts of the case, not on his actions with the young men.
The defense attorney said he was concerned that a "mob mentality had permeated aspects of the case" and that "no matter how powerful and moving" the victim impact statements were, the parties were "not here to sentence based on conduct not charged."
"I think it is fair to ask, is the government targeting the conduct or is it targeting the man?" Friese asked.
Holmberg has numerous health conditions that would be less costly to treat in home confinement, Friese said in court filings.
“The bottom line is, he is in frail condition,” Friese said.
Holmberg has been held in a Minnesota county jail near the Twin Cities since Nov. 1 after Hovland determined Holmberg violated the conditions of his pre-sentencing release.
Hovland asked if time served would be a deterrent.
Friese argued Holmberg has already been punished enough.
"If what he (Holmberg) has endured isn't punishment, I don't know what is," Friese said. "He is a broken man."
Puhl said sentencing Holmberg to no further prison time would not serve justice. Holmberg’s acts in Prague, as well as his history of targeting young, vulnerable men, is egregious, she said.
The men's only crime was "blind ambition," in that they wanted to be a part of "Holmberg's inner circle," Puhl said. Not sentencing him to prison time would create a disparity compared to other sex offenders who are not powerful but received a harsher punishment, she said.
“Thirty-seven months is a just sentence for an 81-year-old man who has evaded law enforcement for so many years,” she said.
Holmberg apologized for his actions, saying they were the result of hubris, pride and arrogance.
“I didn’t have to worry about actions because I was entitled,” he said.
Holmberg said he didn't know what he was doing was against the law but acknowledged ignorance is not an excuse. He said he has had time to reflect on his privilege and entitlement.
He said he hoped people could forgive him, even if they couldn't forget his actions.
"The fall from grace, from the top of the mountains, was steep and swift," Holmberg said.
When Hovland asked why Holmberg used sex workers in other countries, the former senator said he felt it was "legal and politically safe." Holmberg said he had a passion for getting massages.
The judge further pressed about messages in which Holmberg bragged about having sex with 14- and 15-year-old boys. Holmberg denied having sex with children but said that was part of his fantasy.
"Bottom line is, I talk too much," Holmberg said.
Holmberg's medical conditions are not so unusual, Hovland said. The judge said he was not influenced by the press and "tried to get to the truth of what went on." The guideline range as dictated by the sentencing commission was "not even close" to a "reasonable, sufficient, or appropriate" punishment, he said.
The judge ticked through a litany of federal crimes involving child sexual abuse that had minimum mandatory sentences of 10 years or more.
Hovland said any claim that sex with boys was consensual was "preposterous," and added, "It probably allows a pedophile to sleep better at night to say that." Holmberg's behavior showed a pattern that is troubling, reckless and shameful, the judge said.
"This was not an isolated case," Hovland said. "This is not a victimless crime."
Democratic and Republican leadership in the North Dakota Legislature issued a joint statement calling Holmberg's actions a "violation of the public trust," "a profound moral failing and a betrayal of the responsibilities that come with public service."
"Ray Holmberg's evil crimes require reflection and careful review of policy to determine how best to combat crimes against children," the statement said. "In the coming months, we intend to do that with sober judgment and a firm resolve."
Those who helped or knew about Holmberg's actions should face consequences, House Minority Leader Zac Ista, D-Grand Forks, said in a statement. He called for an investigation and solutions to address potential corruption.
"While Holmberg is responsible for that lifetime of deceit, we — as individuals and the legislative institution — must reflect on how we can make sure this never, ever happens again in North Dakota," Ista said.
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