North Dakota
Ex-North Dakota politician admits to traveling to Czech Republic for sex with minor
- Former North Dakota lawmaker Ray Holmberg, 80, pleaded guilty to traveling to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with minors.
- Holmberg admitted in court to paying young male masseuses during multiple trips to the Czech Republic.
- He was indicted in 2023 on charges related to illicit sexual activity and child sexual abuse material but agreed to a plea deal.
A powerful former North Dakota lawmaker pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to a charge that he traveled to Europe with the intent to pay for sex with a minor.
Ray Holmberg, 80, of Grand Forks, admitted in court that he had paid young male masseuses, with some of whom he had sexual contact, during multiple visits to the Czech Republic, though he said he did not know for certain how old they were.
Holmberg was indicted in October 2023 for travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and receipt and attempted receipt of child sexual abuse material. The Republican served more than 45 years in the North Dakota Senate before resigning in 2022.
NORTH DAKOTA POLITICIAN CHARGED WITH TRAVELING TO CZECH REPUBLIC FOR SEX WITH MINOR
Under a plea agreement he signed in June, Holmberg agreed to plead guilty to the former charge, and prosecutors would move to dismiss the latter and recommend a sentence at the low end of the guideline range.
North Dakota Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, speaks on the Senate floor at the state Capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota, in November 2021. (Mike McCleary/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)
Judge Daniel Hovland accepted his plea and allowed Holmberg to remain released, with restrictions, until a later sentencing hearing. Wearing a dark suit, the disgraced former lawmaker declined to comment after the hearing.
The travel charge carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervised release.
In the plea agreement, Holmberg acknowledged that he had “repeatedly traveled from Grand Forks, North Dakota to Prague, Czech Republic with a motivating purpose of engaging in commercial sex with adolescent-age individuals under the age of 18 years.”
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In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl detailed the allegations against Holmberg, including his emails with others related to his encounters in Prague. Puhl said he made 14 trips to Prague from 2011 to 2021 and frequented a villa that one travel companion described as a brothel that had teenage male masseuses. Another travel companion told investigators that he paid for the nights at the villa because Holmberg did not want his name on the register, Puhl said.
Puhl said the investigation began around 2020-21 as child-exploitation investigators were looking into a landscaper Holmberg knew named Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier. She said investigators interviewed an 18-year-old former employee of Morgan-Derosier’s who said he had sex with Holmberg in exchange for a condo association landscaping contract, and also saw Morgan-Derosier and Holmberg view child sexual abuse material at Holmberg’s house.
In 2022, after initially announcing he wouldn’t seek reelection, Holmberg resigned his Senate seat after The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reported on dozens of text messages the lawmaker exchanged with Morgan-Derosier, who was in jail at the time. Morgan-Derosier is currently serving a 40-year prison sentence.
The judge asked Holmberg how he got “caught up in this lifestyle,” the age of the youngest person he paid for sex and whether he traveled to other countries for the same purpose.
North Dakota Sen. Ray Holmberg listens during a joint House and Senate Appropriations Committee meeting at the Capitol in Bismarck, North Dakota, on Jan. 7, 2009. (AP Photo/Will Kincaid, File)
Holmberg, a retired high school counselor, said, “It was just something — I don’t want to say fell into … that I did,” and “it was after retirement before any of this activity occurred.” He retired in 2002. He said he had been to Prague a few times before 2011, liking opera and castles. He said he generally traveled by himself.
Holmberg said he became aware of the villa after possibly seeing it online, but said he wasn’t sure how old the masseuses were or how many encounters he had with them. Sexual contact occurred with “some of them,” he said. He noted that the Czech Republic has a younger age of consent than the U.S. does and said he didn’t recall traveling to other countries for the same purpose.
“I’ve been in a number of countries and the only one that sticks out is the Czech Republic,” he said.
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Holmberg has been under numerous conditions of release, including travel restrictions, location monitoring and the surrender of his passport.
On Friday, a pretrial services officer filed a report saying Holmberg hadn’t met those conditions, including unapproved Internet access, a visit to an adult novelty store and testing positive once for alcohol. Holmberg was not arrested.
The judge said he will respect an agreement between Holmberg’s attorney and prosecutors for him to remain on release before his sentencing. His attorney, Mark Friese, cited Holmberg’s various health issues and upcoming medical appointments. The judge told Holmberg he is concerned about his compliance.
For many years, Holmberg chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee, which writes budgets. He also chaired the Legislative Management panel, which handles various business between biennial sessions. That job let him approve his own travel.
Records obtained by The Associated Press showed Holmberg took dozens of trips throughout the U.S. and to other countries since 1999. Destinations included cities in more than 30 states, as well as Canada, Puerto Rico and Norway.
Earlier this year, the North Dakota School Boards Association returned about $142,000 to the state and ended its role in the Global Bridges teacher exchange program months after releasing travel records following Holmberg’s indictment that showed he utilized state funds when he traveled to Prague and other European cities in 2011, 2018 and 2019.
It’s unclear whether the misconduct alleged by authorities occurred during any of those trips.
The factors in Holmberg’s case make it arguably the most significant political scandal in North Dakota history, former U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon said.
“You have a very high-profile politician. You have literally the worst allegation you possibly could come up with, the sexual abuse and rape of a child,” he said. “And then you have the idea that tax dollars paid for the plane ticket.”
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In a statement, North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley called Holmberg’s guilty plea “an important milestone in North Dakota’s battle against child sex trafficking. Former State Senator Ray Holmberg has admitted his heinous crimes and now stands convicted of conduct that fuels the domestic and global sexual exploitation of children.”
GRAND FORKS — A North Dakota composer’s dream is turning into a statewide invitation.
Williston-based musician Emily Black-Driscoll was chosen as the North Dakota Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer for 2026. She’s preparing an original composition that will premiere in August.
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North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
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