Ray Holmberg (Cass County Jail photo)
Ray Holmberg is going to be in federal prison for 10 years. Judge Daniel Hovland, Judge of the United States District Court of North Dakota, went well over the recommended sentence of three years, and instead gave Holmberg ten years. I was in the courtroom when he did it. And aside from looking at other sentences in sex-related crimes, it was clear he did it because he was pissed off.
And he had the right to be.
What Holmberg did was disgusting. He raped young boys and bragged about it. And he had been doing it for decades.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota, Jennifer Puhl proved it. She and her team travelled to Prague to get the information needed to prove what Holmberg did. Imagine that for a second. Holmberg goes to Prague because he knows he’s not going to get caught for his crimes, and used state of North Dakota money to buy young boys just to abuse them and scar them for life.
And Ray Holmberg did nothing in the courtroom to show remorse either. To joke about how the bed in the jail was better than the “villa in Prague” was appalling. When pushed by Judge Hovland on why in the world he would ever write a note to a friend bragging about having sex with a 13-year-old, Holmberg said he was just “being braggadocios” and it was “locker room talk.” He went on to say that was just one of his “little quirks.”
In the end, Holmberg got everything he deserved and more. The only thing left to do now is find out who he was traveling with. Who was that person he was bragging to? That is something the public deserves to know.
Good riding with you,
Joel
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