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Crime, Law and Justice
Dan Gunderson
Fargo, N.D.

Former North Dakota lawmaker awaiting sentencing on child sex charges will be jailed

Person holds face with palm
North Dakota Sen. Ray Holmberg listens during a joint House and Senate Appropriations Committee meeting at the state Capitol, in Bismarck, N.D.
Will Kincaid | AP 2009

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Former North Dakota lawmaker Ray Holmberg will be jailed while he awaits sentencing on child sex charges.

Federal prosecutors said 80-year-old Ray Holmberg violated conditions of his release.

Holmberg was a powerful Republican member of the North Dakota Legislature for decades.

He resigned in 2022 following reports he had traded scores of text messages with a man jailed on child pornography charges.

In October of 2023, federal prosecutors charged Holmberg with repeatedly traveling to Prague, in the Czech Republic, to sexually abuse minors.

In August of this year, he pled guilty and was released with conditions pending sentencing.

The government said Holmberg has repeatedly violated release conditions by accessing social media sites, visiting an adult novelty store and consuming alcohol.

In an order for detention, federal judge Daniel Hovland wrote that Holmberg did not show "a good faith effort" to follow the conditions of his release.

Holmberg was ordered to surrender to U.S. Marshals on Friday Nov. 1.

His sentencing date has not been set. Holmberg faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.