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NASHUA, NH – A former New Hampshire state representative from Nashua has been sentenced to 33 years in prison on child abuse charges.
Stacie Laughton, 42, pleaded guilty in November to three counts of sexual exploitation of children. Laughton was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge in Boston.
Prosecutors say Laughton encouraged her former romantic partner, Lindsay Groves, to take explicit photographs of children at the Massachusetts day care where she worked.
In 2012, Laughton, a Democrat, was believed to be the first transgender person elected to a state legislature. But she resigned before taking her seat after reports about her earlier convictions for identity fraud and falsifying evidence.
She successfully ran again in 2020 and was re-elected in 2022. She resigned in December 2024 after being jailed on the charges related to Groves.
Groves, of Hudson, was sentenced earlier this month to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of sexual exploitation of children.
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