Former transgender Democrat state lawmaker charged with sexual exploitation of children

A former Democrat New Hampshire state representative who identifies as transgender was charged by a federal Massachusetts court Tuesday with child exploitation.

According to a press release from the office of the U.S. District Attorney for Massachusetts, Stacie-Marie Laughton, 39, a biological male who identifies as female, was charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children, as well as aiding and abetting. 

The release stated Laughton has been charged alongside former “intimate partner” Lindsay Groves, a daycare worker in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, who a preliminary forensic review showed had more than 10,000 text messages between the two “that included discussion about, and transfer of, explicit photographs that Groves had taken of children while employed at Creative Minds daycare.”

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Those messages included sexually explicit images of children who appeared to be approximately three to five years old, and “explicit descriptions” of sexual contact with each other, as well as children, the release said.

The investigation is ongoing.

Laughton was initially arrested in June for allegedly distributing “sexually explicit images of children,” the latest in a string of run-ins with the law that includes making bomb threats and stalking.

After being elected to the New Hampshire legislature in 2012, Laughton was unable to serve due to still being on probation for a 2008 felony conviction of credit card fraud.

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Laughton was also arrested for making a bomb threat against the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in 2015 and was arrested again in 2021 on charges related to the misuse of the state’s 911 texting system.

Despite Laughton’s criminal past, the candidate was elected for a second term to represent Nashua, New Hampshire, in the 2022 elections, but was never seated after being jailed again for multiple stalking-related charges.

According to the press release, Laughton will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.

Fox News’ Aubrie Spady contributed to this report.