Oddly enough, Holmberg would likely have gotten away with it if he hadn't told a person who was already jailed on charges related to child sexual abuse images, both of them interested in teenage boys. Holmberg had served more than 45 years in the North Dakota Senate before retiring last year.
Source: Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A retired Republican state senator from North Dakota has been charged with traveling to Europe with the intent of paying for sex with a minor and with receiving images depicting child sexual abuse, according to a federal indictment unsealed Monday.
Longtime state Sen. Ray Holmberg, 79, was arrested Monday and released after pleading not guilty to the charges in U.S. District Court in Fargo. His trial is set for Dec. 5.
Prosecutors said in a statement that Holmberg repeatedly traveled to Prague in the Czech Republic from June 2011 to November 2016 for the purpose of paying for sex with a person under 18 years old. The indictment, which also suggests Holmberg used aliases, says he received and attempted to receive images that depict child sexual abuse from November 2012 to March 2013.
Holmberg served more than 45 years in the North Dakota Senate until his resignation last year, after local media outlet The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead revealed he exchanged dozens of text messages with a person who was jailed on charges related to child sexual abuse images.
