Nicholas Hacker is a former North Dakota state senator and served on the North Dakota Board of Higher Education. In 2016 while Hacker was on the Board of Higher Ed, Senator Ray Holmberg sent Hacker an e-mail describing a sexual encounter he had in Taiwan. Hacker did not forward that email to report inappropriate, likely illegal trafficking until after the investigation into Holmberg began in 2022. That is six years of failing to report Holmberg’s disgraceful conduct.
There is no evidence that Hacker was himself a predator, but he did not raise concerns about Holmberg’s behavior. As the North Dakota requirement to report does not extend to elected officials nor to higher education officials, Hacker’s failure is purely a moral failure, not a criminal failure.
Hacker did nothing illegal, but ask yourself whether you would retain an email for six years that describes a trafficked encounter with a young boy and not forward it to police, the sheriff, or the FBI until they ask for it in an investigation.
- KFGO: NDBCI report reveals emails Ray Holmberg sent to others detailing decades of sex abuse
- North Dakota Monitor: Higher ed leaders to conduct review after revelations in Holmberg sex case
May 2, 2025
