Former N.H. representative, daycare worker plead guilty to child exploitation

A former New Hampshire State Representative and a former employee at a Tyngsborough daycare both pleaded guilty to child exploitation and child pornography charges, prosecutors said.

Lindsay Groves, 40, of Hudson, N.H., pleaded guilty Oct. 14 to three counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a statement. Stacie Marie Laughton, 41, of Nashua, N.H., pleaded guilty Nov. 3 to three counts of sexual exploitation of children.

Groves was arrested in June 2023 and initially charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of distribution of child pornography. Laughton was arrested later that week and charged with four counts of distribution of child sexual abuse images. Both were later indicted on the current charges in July 2023, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Groves worked at Creative Minds Early Learning Center in Tyngsborough, and between May 2022 and June 2023, she took nude images of children at the day care and sent them to Laughton, with whom she was previously in an “intimate relationship,” prosecutors said. During the children’s bathroom breaks and diaper changes, Groves took the photos in a private bathroom and sent them to Laughton.

 A forensic review of Groves’ and Laughton’s cell phones revealed more than 10,000 text messages between them across “an approximate one-month period in 2023,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. At least four of the photos were of children who appeared to be between three and five years old.

All of Groves’ and Laughton’s minor victims have been identified, and law enforcement contacted their families, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Groves and Laughton face 15 to 30 years in prison, five years to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000 for the sexual exploitation charge, according to prosecutors. For the additional distribution charge, Groves faces five to 20 years in prison, five years to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.

Laughton, New Hampshire’s first openly transgender lawmaker, resigned in December 2022 after she was arrested and accused of stalking and harassment, The New Hampshire Union Leader reported at the time. She first got into legal trouble in 2008, when she was found guilty of conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, according to the Union Leader.

After winning a seat in the New Hampshire Legislature in 2012, she resigned before taking office after her felony conviction came to light. She admitted herself to a mental health and addiction treatment facility in Vermont a few years later after she received a suspended six-month jail term for reporting a bomb threat at a local hospital, the Union Leader reported.

Laughton was also arrested in 2021 after being elected again in 2020 when she was accused of sending false emergency texts to New Hampshire’s E-911 center, according to The Nashua Telegraph.

Groves is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 4, and Laughton is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 12, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

Attorneys for Groves and Laughton did not immediately return requests for comment Wednesday night.