Ray Holmberg, a former senator from North Dakota, will enter a plea of guilty to a federal charge that alleges that he traveled to Europe with the intention of sexually abusing a minor.
The Republican from Grand Forks will confess in North Dakota U.S. District Court that he traveled to Prague with the intent to sexually abuse a minor between June 24, 2011, and Nov. 1, 2016, according to the plea agreement that was filed on Monday, June 24. On June 18, Holmberg, who is 80 years old, executed the confession agreement.
Prague is situated in central Europe, in the Czech Republic.
The allegation is punishable by a maximum of 30 years in prison. The U.S. counsel’s Office in North Dakota and Holmberg’s counsel, Mark Friese, have reached an agreement regarding a sentencing level that falls within the lower end of the federal guidelines.
Friese stated that the guidelines indicate that Holmberg could be sentenced to a term of 37 to 46 months; however, this could be increased or decreased in accordance with departures or variances.
Holmberg is required to undergo a presentence investigation that could assist in determining the appropriate sentence. This could require several weeks or months.
He will be required to register as a sex offender as reported by InForum News.
The plea agreement also stipulates that a charge of receiving and attempting to receive child sex abuse material in the early 2010s will be dismissed.
On October 26, Holmberg was indicted. The court documents were short on specifics regarding the indictment.
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According to federal prosecutors, he employed aliases such as Sean Evan and Sean Evans to persuade a minor to send him sexually explicit images. Prosecutors also claimed that he utilized the Internet to coordinate his travel to Prague and to express his sexual experiences to others.
The indictment did not specify the number of victims in the case or the number of files containing child sex abuse materials.
In October, Holmberg was apprehended; however, he was not incarcerated. He utilized his time on supervised release during court proceedings. His September trial has been shelved.
As of the time of publication, a plea hearing had not been scheduled.