The first openly trans lawmaker in the US — who was hailed as a trail-blazer — has admitted to sickening child sex charges involving young kids in a daycare.
Former Democratic New Hampshire state Rep. Stacie-Marie Laughton, 41, a biological male who identifies as female, pleaded guilty to charges including sexual exploitation of children last week in a Boston federal court, WMUR reported.
Laughton now faces up to 30 years in federal prison.
Four pictures of children believed to be 3 to 5 years old were sent to Laughton by former partner, Lindsay Groves, who took the horrific images in the bathroom of the day care where she worked in Tyngsborough, Mass., federal prosecutors said.
Laughton — who was called a history-maker following their election to the New Hampshire House in 2012 — asked Groves to take the nauseating pictures and exchanged thousands of text messages about them, according to the feds.
Last month, Groves pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children and distribution of child pornography in a federal court, WMUR previously reported.
The former couple were both indicted in August 2023 on three counts of sexual exploitation of children.
The explicit images were taken between May and June 2022 at Creative Minds day care, where Groves worked in the small town close to Nashua, according to charging documents shared by the New Hampshire Union Leader.
Groves “used natural bathroom breaks for the children,” to photograph the children, according to docs.
The pair are due to be sentenced in February. Sexual exploitation of children is punishable by between 15 and 30 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
Laughton was previously forced to resign twice from the New Hampshire House over separate legal issues — including three felony convictions in 2008 for credit card fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
