This story contains mentions of child sexual assault. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.

(NewsNation) — A former North Dakota state senator is charged with traveling to the Czech Republic with the intention of paying for sex with a minor, and also of receiving images depicting child sexual abuse, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Raymon Holmberg, 79, repeatedly traveled to Prague from June 2011 through November 2016, court documents show. An indictment suggests Holmberg used aliases, and also received and attempted to receive images of child sex abuse from November 2012 to March 2013.

Holmberg, who served more than 45 years in the North Dakota Senate until he resigned last year, was arrested Monday but not booked into jail, The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead reports. He pleaded not guilty to charges against him.

Judge Alice Senechal ordered Holmberg be placed on supervised release, on the condition he give up his passport and not have contact with victims, witnesses or anyone under 18. According to The Forum, Holmberg is also not allowed access to the internet without permission from pretrial service supervisors, nor is he able to travel outside of Grand Forks or East Grand Forks except for court hearings.

A trial has been set to begin Dec. 5. If convicted, Holmberg faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison, per the DOJ.

Holmberg’s attorney, Mark Friese, said in a text message to the Associated Press that authorities investigated Holmberg “for 2 years or more and allege nothing recent.”

“The conduct they allege is from more than a decade ago,” Friese wrote.

Law enforcement searched Holmberg’s Grand Forks home in November 2021, seizing video discs and additional items.

As a senator, Holmberg chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, which writes budgets. In March 2022, he announced he wouldn’t seek reelection, citing stress and “a weakened ability to concentrate on the matters at hand and effectively recall events.”

However, Holmberg actually ended up resigning after The Forum revealed dozen of text messages between him and Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier, who was jailed on charges related to child sexual abuse images at the time.

Morgan-Derosier, after pleading guilty last month in federal court to six counts of possessing images depicting child sexual abuse and one count of receiving and distributing such images, is scheduled to be sentenced in January.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.