Once hailed as a “pioneer,” former New Hampshire state representative Stacie Marie Laughton, 41, of Nashua, a biological male who identifies as a woman, was sentenced to 33 years in prison on Thursday for the sexual exploitation of children at a Massachusetts daycare.
But this story did not begin with the daycare investigation. Laughton’s criminal record and political career reveal a pattern of misconduct that was repeatedly ignored as liberal activists and media figures rushed to embrace the nation’s first openly transgender elected official.
His first electoral victory came in 2012, when he won a seat in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. The win was widely celebrated as historic: he was not only New Hampshire’s first openly transgender lawmaker, but also the first openly transgender person elected to any state legislature in the United States.
However, within days of Laughton’s victory, reports of prior felony fraud convictions emerged, and he resigned as representative-elect. At the time, New Hampshire Public Radio reported:
The decision was prompted by a state law forbidding felons from holding public office until the felon is discharged.In 2008, Laughton was sentenced for conspiring to commit credit card fraud, and falsifying evidence. After four months, [his] sentence was suspended pending ten years of good behavior, the Laconia Daily Sun reports.
Laughton’s next brush with the law came in early 2015, when he was arrested for calling in a bomb threat to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center. He was initially charged with making a false report of explosives, a felony, but a judge later reduced the charge to a misdemeanor and imposed a six-month suspended jail sentence.
Despite his criminal record, after paying the $2,000 restitution fee necessary to restore his eligibility for public office, Laughton mounted a political comeback in 2019 and reclaimed his former Nashua “selectwoman” position.
In 2020, he won an election to the state House. Although he won reelection in 2022, he never served any part of that term. Days after his victory, he was arrested and jailed on a stalking charge. He had violated a court order “prohibiting him from posting on Facebook about a woman.”
Already facing up to nine months in jail for his earlier arrest (calling in a bomb threat), he resigned from his seat before the next legislative session began.
The most serious chapter in Laughton’s criminal history came next, which culminated in the 33-year sentence handed down this week. Federal prosecutors said Laughton received sexually explicit images and videos of children taken at Creative Minds daycare in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, over a roughly two-year period, from June 2021 until the scheme was uncovered in June 2023. This means the conduct began while Laughton was serving in public office.
ABC News’ Boston affiliate WCVB reported that Laughton received the images from his former partner, Lindsay Groves, who also pleaded guilty in the case.
According to federal court documents, a review of Laughton and Groves’ cellphones revealed more than 10,000 text messages between them, including explicit images Groves is accused of taking of children as young as three.Laughton has remained in federal custody since [his] arrest.Earlier this month, Groves was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
According to Boston.com, Laughton “pleaded guilty to goading [his] former partner into taking sexually explicit photos of children.”
Laughton, 42, spoke “extensively” in text messages in the spring of 2023 about “potential or fantasized sexual contact with kids,” federal prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
[Note: I was unable to confirm the date that Laughton posted the video taunting police that they will never catch him included in the X post below. I imagine he did so shortly before his July 2023 arrest.]
After his July 2023 incarceration in the Hillsborough County Jail, the NH Journal confirmed that Laughton is being “housed in a male unit.” The outlet noted that obtaining an answer from jail officials was not easy. Confirmation came “after days of evasion” and “pressure from public officials hearing from a concerned public.”
News of Laughton’s conviction and lengthy prison sentence brings us back to a topic I’ve written about twice in the past week. First, I reported that the California Public Utilities Commission is pressuring privately owned utility companies to award contracts to “certified LGBT-owned” firms. Then, in observance of Pride Month, the San Francisco Giants asked players to wear special-edition hats honoring the LGBTQ+ community. Before the game, the team led 10 same-sex couples onto the field to renew their wedding vows as a “gigantic drag queen” looked on.
It seems that all one has to say is, ‘I’m a transgender’ or ‘I’m gay,’ and the Left swoons. Identity is treated as a credential. The problem is not that Laughton is transgender. The problem is that influential institutions, activists, and media figures were so determined to celebrate a transgender candidate that they failed to exercise even the most basic degree of due diligence.
This veneration of members of the LGBTQ community is dangerous and has to stop. Laughton’s story serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of elevating symbolism above substance.
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