FARGO (KFGO) – A Grand Forks man who admits to having a sexual relationship with convicted child molester Ray Holmberg has made his first public comments.
Will Swearson, who was a cooperating witness in the case against Holmberg, says he first met the once-powerful state senator when he was a graduate student at the University of North Dakota. Holmberg was recently sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for traveling overseas over a number of years to have sex with underage boys.
Swearson, appearing on KFGO News and Views, said Holmberg was a “cunning, sharp” predator.
“At first, he would provide me some financial assistance for me to pay for groceries (and) gas, electricity,” Swearson said. “Things began to change a little bit after that – about a year or two after – the way he started to control me using his influence became very… he exhibited the same patterns as the people that hurt me in the past – people that had molested me and coerced me into doing things.”
Swearson, says he was eight-years-old when he was first molested. He says he met Holmberg when he was in his mid-20s. He says he knew that Holmberg never cared for him. He referred to Holmberg as a “Goliath” and a beast of a person who considered him his “trophy piece.”
“I had to make him think that I was one of his friends,” Swearson said. “It’s that old saying, ‘keep your friends close, but keep your enemies even closer. I had to make an active decision that… okay, this person does not care about me. I am just something to be used and discarded whenever he was done with me.”
Swearson says Holmberg held incredible power and suggested that he would be able to help Swearson find career opportunities.
“Honestly, I just wanted a job. I just wanted to be a law-abiding citizen. I wanted to help. I wanted to contribute to society in a positive way. I saw this as a potential way to do it,” Swearson said. “I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed. I’m dyslexic and autistic, so I don’t have all these social graces. I don’t have the political connections as somebody from a really wealthy background would have.”
Swearson says he hopes his decision to go public with his story will help others who may find themselves in similar positions.
You can hear the full interview here.
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