A former New Hampshire state representative with an extensive criminal history has been arrested and charged with distribution of child sexual abuse images, which the self-declared transgender former lawmaker allegedly got from a former romantic partner who worked with children in Tyngsboro.
Nashua Police arrested Stacie-Marie Laughton, 39, of Derry, N.H., on Thursday, the day that Laughton’s former partner Lindsay Groves, 38, of Hudson, N.H., was charged in federal court in Boston with counts of child exploitation and child pornography.
Laughton is due to be arraigned at 1 p.m. on the charges at Hillsboro Superior Court-South in Nashua.
Groves worked at Creative Minds daycare in Tyngsboro, according to an affidavit filed in that case. Laughton appears to be the person identified only as “Person 1” in that court document. As the Herald reported Thursday, Groves is alleged to have taken nude photos of children — both boys and girls — she worked with at the daycare and then texted them to “Person 1,” which appears to be Laughton.
Nashua Police first responded to a “local facility for a juvenile matter” on Tuesday, according to a department press release, during which they spoke with people who had allegedly indicated that Laughton had distributed sexually explicit images of children.
Laughton has a history of legal troubles, according to local reporting.
Laughton was the first transgender person elected to the New Hampshire legislature in 2012 but did not take office then due to prior felony convictions, according to a 2018 Associated Press report. In 2015, Laughton was charged in connection to a bomb threat called into Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, according to WMUR.
In 2021, the newly elected state representative Laughton was arrested and charged with counts of providing false information to 911, WMUR reported. Laughton told the news outlet, “I deny the charges and I plan on fighting them. I am somebody who has been in trouble with the law in the past and I’ve come a long way.” Laughton would be convicted of several of the charges that August.
Laughton was arrested again that following November on stalking charges and for violating a court order that prohibited Laughton from posting on social media about a specific person. This caused Laughton’s fellow Democratic lawmakers to call for her resignation, a call Laughton eventually heeded.
This is a developing story.