The nation’s first-ever transgender-identifying state lawmaker, a former New Hampshire Democratic representative for Nashua, pleaded guilty this week to the charge of sexual exploitation of children after convincing his partner to send him sexually explicit images of children at a daycare.
The former representative, a male who uses the name Stacie Laughton, was first elected to the NH House of Representatives in 2012 in what was heralded as a landmark moment for the LGBTQ community, as he was the first transgender-identifying person to serve in a state legislature.
Three years ago, California Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell campaigned with Laughton.
Laughton was elected to the state legislature three times and resigned twice due to legal troubles. Those legal troubles included allegedly making a hoax bomb threat against a hospital in 2015, a crime he blamed on mental health issues.
According to charging documents reviewed by The Maine Wire, Laughton was arrested along with his former partner, Lindsay Groves, in 2023 after law enforcement received a report that Laughton had shown sexually explicit images of small children to another person.
Documents revealed that, while Groves worked at a daycare and Laughton served as a state representative, the two sent over 10,000 messages discussing the sexual abuse of children at the daycare.
Laughton repeatedly encouraged Groves to take sexually explicit images of herself abusing children as young as five at the daycare, which Groves then sent to Laughton at his request.
Laughton pleaded guilty to one count of the sexual exploitation of children this week, which carries a minimum 15-year and maximum 30-year prison sentence, along with a potential $250,000 fine.
He confessed to his crime shortly after Groves admitted to taking the sexually explicit images.
