Sentencing Set In Former Nashua State Rep's Child Sex Abuse Case

By Damien Fisher, NH Journal

BOSTON, MA — It’s been months since former state representative Stacie Laughton (D-Nashua) pleaded guilty in a horrific child sex abuse image case involving a Massachusetts daycare.

Now his much-delayed sentencing date is approaching.

Laughton and romantic partner and co-defendant Lindsay Groves are scheduled to be sentenced together on June 2 in the United States District Court in Boston. The pair were scheduled for sentencing in February and March, but those hearings were delayed.

Laughton, New Hampshire’s first openly transgender elected representative, and girlfriend Groves were arrested in 2023 on charges of possessing child sex abuse images. According to court records, Groves used her position at a Tyngsborough, Mass., daycare to exploit the children in her care for sexually explicit photos that were shared with Laughton.

Laughton, 42, born Barry Laughton, took a plea deal in November that could get him as much as 30 years in prison. Groves pleaded guilty in October after a lengthy competency evaluation process in August found her fit to stand trial.

Laughton and Groves share a messy history as a couple, along with their horrific sexual crimes. According to court records, Laughton repeatedly tried to get Groves fired from her daycare job during a 2022 breakup, claiming Groves was a pedophile. Laughton reported Groves to the police and additionally used his social media and radio program to accuse Groves of pedophilia, according to court records.

Those 2022 accusations were deemed false and became part of Groves’ November 2022 stalking case against Laughton, which landed the Nashua politician behind bars weeks after his election to the House. Democrats waited weeks before finally pushing Laughton to resign his seat in the House that December.

But a year after Laughton’s accusations were seemingly discounted, the pair were arrested for actual pedophilia. According to court records, Groves had been texting Laughton nude photos of children from her daycare in the spring of 2022 as Laughton mused about child rape.

“I just don’t wanna get in trouble. I mean I want to do what we want to do because we like it and we approve of it but others think this is wrong. Lots of parents don’t like people touching their kids and it is against the law …” Laughton texted to Groves.

Laughton and Groves are unlikely to see each other again for some time. Groves is a biological woman and has been held in women’s facilities during pretrial incarceration. Laughton, on the other hand, has been held in men’s facilities since his 2023 arrest.

First elected in 2012 as Stacie Laughton, the Nashua Democrat was forced to resign when his criminal past was uncovered. At the time of the 2012 election, Barry Laughton was still on probation for a 2008 felony credit card fraud conviction, and therefore ineligible for office under New Hampshire law.

Laughton returned to politics in 2019 after finally paying the court-ordered $2,000 restitution in the credit card fraud case and was again elected to the House in 2020. State Democrats and voters seemed willing to overlook Laughton’s 2015 conviction for making bomb threats against Southern New Hampshire Medical Center.

In a 2022 op-ed for Manchester Ink Link, state Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley praised Laughton as part of the “backbone of the Granite State.”

Buckley’s op-ed has since been taken down.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.