A federal court has indicted a former state senator from North Dakota on counts of child sex tourism and child pornography.
On Thursday, the US District Court in Fargo indicted Grand Forks resident Raymond Everett Holmberg, 79, on accusations of receiving child pornography and engaging in child sex tourism. He showed up at the Fargo federal court today for his initial appearance and arraignment.
According to the indictment, which was made public on Monday, Holmberg “repeatedly traveled from North Dakota to Prague, Czech Republic, for the purpose of engaging in commercial sex acts with a person under the age of 18 years” between June 2011 and November 2016.
The indictment further claims that Holmberg attempted to obtain and received child porn featuring a youngster engaging in sexually explicit behavior between November 24, 2012, and March 4, 2013.
He made a not-guilty plea. December 5 has been set aside for the first trial.
“I commend the United States Attorney’s Office for directing this painstaking investigation in the pursuit of justice,” North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said in a statement Monday afternoon.
“In early February 2022, within hours of my taking the Oath of Office as Attorney General, the US Attorney’s Office and the leadership of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) briefed me on the early stages of this joint federal and state investigation. I immediately instructed the BCI to move this case to priority status where it remains today, due to the on-going nature of this investigation.”
