Trans-identified ex-state lawmaker facing 30 years in prison for child porn possession
Editor's Note: This article contains descriptions of child sexual exploitation and child sex abuse that some readers will find disturbing.
The first openly trans-identifying lawmaker in the nation has pleaded guilty in a case that involved his former partner sending him sexually explicit photos of children at a daycare where she worked, with some of the images involving children as young as 3.
Stacie-Marie Laughton, whose real name is Barry Laughton, is a 41-year-old man who identifies as female. Laughton pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom in Boston to charges that included child sexual exploitation and possessing child sex abuse materials, ABC News affiliate WMUR9 reported.
The trans-identifying lawmaker, who previously served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives from 2020 to 2022, faces the possibility of 30 years in prison, according to NH Journal. Laughton and his former partner, Lindsay Groves, are scheduled to be sentenced in February 2026.
The lawmaker’s former partner admitted last month to taking sexually explicit photos of children at the Creative Minds daycare center in Tyngsboro, Massachusetts, and sending the images to Laughton, according to WMUR9.
Groves had “a sexualized text message conversation in May/June 2022,” according to a 2023 affidavit, in which Laughton asked his partner to send him nude photos of children at the daycare.
Special Agent Rocco Rauseo with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security submitted the affidavit in support of a criminal complaint charging Laughton “with one count of sexual exploitation of children (and aiding and abetting), in violation of 18 U.S. code 2251 and 2.”
Groves admitted to taking multiple photos of children inside a bathroom at Creative Minds “between May/June 2022 and June 2023,” using an iPhone to capture images of their genitalia.
“[Groves] told investigators that she directed the children to pull their shirts/tops towards their heads where their vision would be obscured while their pants were pulled towards their ankles as she captured images of their genitalia with her iPhone,” the affidavit stated.
She also took photos of the children during bathroom breaks, according to the affidavit.
Groves said Laughton told her to touch one of the children’s genitals for his "sexual gratification” as she took one of the photos, the affidavit states.
Investigators later recovered over 10,000 texts exchanged between Laughton and Groves from May 10 to June 16, 2023, which included “discussions of past sexual encounters … explicit descriptions of sex with each other and others (including children), exchanges in which they profess their love for each other, and exchanges in which they argue about their relationship.”
Several of the recovered text messages from June 2023 include discussions about the parents' of the children at Groves’ work, with Laughton saying in one message, “Lots of parents don’t like people touching their kids and it is against the law.”
During another text message exchange from June 7, 2023, Laughton said that he had always wanted to put “[his] d— inside one of the little girls” at Groves’ work. In a follow-up message that same day, Laughton asked if Groves: “So would you let me f— the little girls that you work with[?]”
Groves responded, “If they want your d— inside them.”
The affidavit noted that Groves sent Laughton two digital images on June 13, 2023, of two children with their pants down, exposing their genital area. The first photo depicted a boy, and the second one was of a girl; investigators later confirmed that both children were 3-year-olds who attended Creative Minds.
Rauseo concluded that Laughton and Groves were involved in an “intimate relationship” from at least May 2023 to mid-June 2023, one that involved discussions about their “sexual attraction to and potential sexual involvement with children,” as well as Groves taking sexually explicit photos of children.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
