CONCORD, NH – A former Manchester West High School teacher, charged with arranging a sexual encounter with a minor, withdrew his request to use his laptop for course work for his master’s degree.
Stacey Lancaster, 46, of Hudson was to have a hearing Tuesday on his motion in U.S. District Court. However, that hearing was cancelled after he withdrew his request. On Monday, defense attorney Charles J. Keefe filed a motion withdrawing Lancaster’s request for court approval to use his laptop to continue taking courses to obtain his master’s degree.
Keefe, in his original motion, said the two classes at Northeastern University in Boston began on Oct. 28, 2024 and ended on Dec. 13, 2024. There were only two remaining classes for the semester when he filed the motion.
The hearing on his motion was set four days after the last class, making the request moot.
Lancaster wanted the court to order U.S. Probation to install monitoring software on his computer. He also asked the court to allow him to leave his residence once a week to attend classes at Northeastern University in Boston.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Vicinanzo objected saying the proposed modifications to Lancaster’s bail conditions would give him the technical ability to access any website on the internet. And, he said, the software may not alert U.S. Probation of all proper uses of the internet.
Lancaster was working as a teacher in November when, using the internet, he arranged, to meet a 12-year-old for sex at a local hotel, according to court documents..
Lancaster was released on home confinement. Bail conditions require him to live with his mother in Raymond; have no unsupervised contact with any minor children; not possess or use any computer or device with internet access. The only communication device he can have is a safe phone provided by the monitoring software company through the U.S. Probation Office.
Lancaster is one of five men – the other four from Massachusetts – facing charges in connection with an underage sex sting operation conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He is accused of sex trafficking a child.
There was no underage girl at the hotel when Lancaster arrived on the afternoon of Nov. 14, 2024, but there were law enforcement officers waiting to arrest him.
According to court documents, Lancaster allegedly responded to an online ad for sex and had a text chat with the advertiser while he was at school. Law enforcement agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations had posted the advertisement on a website commonly used to advertise commercial sex acts.
It contained images of what appeared to be two young girls and an invitation to “have some fun!”
The ad contained a contact phone number monitored by law enforcement and used by an undercover agent to communicate with potential sex buyers, including Lancaster.
Lancaster’s trial, which was to begin on Jan. 7, 2025, was extended for 90 days to April 2, 2025.