A former North Dakota state senator was sentenced to 10 years in prison for traveling to Prague with the intention of engaging in commercial sex with children. Raymon (Ray) Everett Holmberg, aged 81 from Grand Forks, made approximately 14 trips to the Czech Republic between 2011 and 2021.
According to court documents, Holmberg visited a brothel catering to men seeking commercial sex with adolescent boys during these visits. He used the alias “Sean Evans” during some of his travels to maintain anonymity as a state legislator. Witnesses reported seeing Holmberg also frequent a public park in front of Prague's main train station to procure sex from underage boys.
Holmberg communicated with friends about his trips under the alias “Evans,” sharing an image of a young boy and promoting travel to Prague. In emails, Holmberg described the cost of engaging in sex acts in Prague, referring to it as “decadent” and enjoyable. Back in the United States, he reportedly boasted of sexual encounters with boys as young as 12 and 15 during his travels.
Authorities revealed that Holmberg's exploitation of minors extended beyond these trips. He engaged online with a 16-year-old Canadian boy, pretending to be a peer to acquire explicit images from the teen.
Holmberg pleaded guilty on August 8, 2024, to traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct. The announcement was made by Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl for the District of North Dakota.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, Grand Forks, and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations. The case is prosecuted by Trial Attorney Charles Schmitz from the Justice Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative started in May 2006 to address child exploitation and abuse, using federal, state, and local resources to apprehend offenders and rescue victims. More about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.