Image Credit: Nashua Police Dept. | Screenshot / X 
A biological male who became the first openly transgender person elected to a state legislature in New Hampshire pleaded guilty to child sexual exploitation this week.
In 2023, Stacie-Marie (formerly Barry) Laughton, 41, was charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children and aiding and abetting after authorities discovered he and his partner, Lindsay Groves, had exchanged extremely disturbing messages and explicit photographs of very young children taken at a Massachusetts daycare where Groves worked.
“According to the charging documents, a preliminary forensic review of Groves’ cellphone allegedly revealed over 10,000 text messages between Laughton and Groves that included discussion about, and transfer of, explicit photographs that Groves had taken of children while employed at Creative Minds daycare – including at least four sexually explicit images of children who appear to be approximately three to five years old, as well as explicit descriptions of sex with each other and others, including children,” the Department of Justice explained at the time.
Groves, 40, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of distribution of child pornography last month, and Laughton reportedly entered a guilty plea just days ago.
In 2012, Laughton was elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, but resigned before taking office after his criminal history — from when he was still known as Barry — surfaced.
In 2015, Laughton was reportedly charged with a felony count of falsely reporting an explosive after calling in a bomb threat to the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center.
In 2019, Laughton paid $2,000 restitution to clear his record to reenter the political arena.
Later that year, was reelected to a selectman position he previously held in Nashua, NH.
In 2020, Laughton was once again elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
He was reelected to the legislature in 2022, but again resigned after being arrested for stalking.
Laughton and Groves are scheduled to be sentenced in February.
