Sentencing hearing set for North Dakota lawmaker convicted of child sex crime
Feb 10, 2025 | 10:36 am ET
Description
Former state Sen. Ray Holmberg arrives at the Quentin N. Burdick U.S. Courthouse in Fargo for a plea hearing in North Dakota U.S. District Court on Aug. 8, 2024, (Dan Koeck/For the North Dakota Monitor)
A former North Dakota state senator convicted of a child sex crime will be sentenced on March 26.
Ray Holmberg, once one of the state’s most powerful lawmakers, pleaded guilty in August to one count of traveling abroad with the intent to have sex with adolescents under age 18.
Holmberg’s sentencing hearing will take place at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. District Court Judge Dan Hovland in Fargo.
Holmberg has been in custody since November, after Hovland rescinded his pre-sentence release.
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He faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release.
Prosecutors agreed in Holmberg’s plea agreement to seek a sentence on the lower end of federal sentencing guidelines. Defense attorney Mark Friese has previously said sentencing guidelines call for between three or four years in prison, which can vary depending on other factors determined by the court.
Holmberg resigned from his seat in the North Dakota Senate in 2022 after federal investigators searched his home in late 2021.
Bismarck, ND