State’s First Transgender Lawmaker Sentenced to Jail
A former New Hampshire lawmaker once celebrated as a political trailblazer has now received a lengthy federal prison sentence in a child exploitation case that shocked communities in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Stacie Laughton, who was elected to the New Hampshire Legislature in 2012 and was widely reported at the time as the state's first openly transgender lawmaker, was sentenced Thursday to 33 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to child sex abuse-related offenses, according to reporting from the New Hampshire Union Leader.
The sentence stems from an investigation that uncovered disturbing communications between Laughton and partner Lindsay Groves, a former employee at Creative Minds daycare in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts.
The widely celebrated first trans person elected to a US state legislature has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for child s—xual exploitation of very young victims from a nursery.
“Stacie” Laughton was a Democrat lawmaker in New Hampshire and was active in a leftist church. pic.twitter.com/vOsjR4yMqj
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) June 20, 2026
According to court filings and previous reporting, Groves worked at the daycare between May 2022 and June 2023. Investigators alleged that Groves secretly took sexually explicit photographs of young children at the facility and transmitted those images to Laughton. Authorities said the children involved were between the ages of 3 and 5.
The case became public after a third party reportedly received some of the images and alerted authorities.
Federal prosecutors described a pattern in which Groves allegedly used a cellphone to photograph children in private areas of the daycare facility before sending the images to Laughton. Prosecutors argued that the photographs were then used in sexually charged conversations between the two.
In November, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts announced that Laughton had pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of children. Groves pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of distribution of child pornography.
Court records cited by media outlets included text messages exchanged between the pair. Some of those messages reflected awareness that their actions were illegal and could lead to severe consequences if discovered.
The case generated intense public reaction. During an early court appearance, emotions reportedly boiled over inside the courtroom gallery as family members and community members confronted the allegations.
Groves was previously sentenced to 22 years and 10 months in federal prison.
