First ‘Openly Transgender’ State Lawmaker Arrested on Child Porn Charges
CV NEWS FEED // The first openly “transgender” state legislator, a former New Hampshire state representative, was arrested last week for allegedly distributing child pornography.
Stacie Marie Laughton, 39, was arrested on June 22 after local police searched his house in Nashua, New Hampshire.
“[The police] spoke with reporting parties that indicated Laughton distributed sexually explicit images of children,” said the local police department’s public information officer. “Detectives from the special investigations division were assigned to further the investigation. They applied for and were granted a warrant for Laughton’s arrest.”
Nashua police Sgt. John Cinelli said Laughton “was charged with four counts of disseminating child sex images.”
Investigators say Laughton was arrested in connection with his former partner, Lindsay Groves. Groves was an employee at the Creative Minds Early Learning Center, a preschool in Massachusetts. Groves was arrested recently for allegedly photographing children in the bathroom of the preschool. Groves is being charged with four counts of possession of child pornography, sexual exploitation of children, and distribution of child pornography.
Laughton has a history of arrests and legal trouble. Born Barry Charles Laughton, Jr., the former Democratic representative resigned twice from the same position because of arrest scandals.
In 2012, he became the first openly “transgender” person elected to the state legislature. He was reelected in 2022. Laughton resigned both times after revelations of legal trouble.
LGBTQ activists and media outlets celebrated Laughton’s election.
Laughton’s arrest will likely draw comparisons to the first “non-binary gender fluid” person to hold a White House position, Sam Brinton. Brinton oversaw nuclear waste policies in the Department of Energy office for less than a year under the Biden administration. He was fired amid multiple accusations of theft of women’s luggage from public transit locations. Brinton was an active member of the “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence” and served as the principal officer of the organization’s Washington, DC chapter before his appointment to the White House.
Laughton hoped to be an inspiration to the “LGBT community.”
“I believe that at this point, the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community will hopefully be inspired,” Laughton said in 2012. “My hope is that now maybe we’ll see more people in the community running.”
“Maybe in the next election, we’ll have a senator.”
Laughton resigned soon after the 2012 election after the exposure of a previous credit card fraud case implicating him.
Laughton’s criminality did not end with credit card fraud. After falsely reporting a hospital bomb threat in 2015, Laughton was sentenced to six months in jail. He was later arrested in July 2021 for giving the police false information. In November 2022, he was re-elected to the state legislature but resigned in December after stalking allegations.
“I’m alive, I’m safe, I’m well,” Laughton said in a Facebook video following his 2022 resignation, announcing his departure from the political sphere. “I’m not suicidal, and just trying to get by every day with what I’ve been dealt.”
“I don’t know what the future holds but I do know this—there’s a lot of good opportunities out there for me to serve, and a lot of good opportunities for me to still stay connected with everyone and I plan to do that.”
Laughton is being held in preventative detention and scheduled for an arraignment at a later date.
