The first transgender lawmaker elected to a state legislature was sentenced to 33 years in prison Thursday for charges of child exploitation after convincing his “former intimate partner” to take explicit photos of children at a daycare.

Stacie-Marie Laughton, a 42-year-old man who claims to be a woman, faces more than 33 years in prison after convincing his former partner, Lindsay Groves, to take photos of children at the daycare where she once worked. Groves took nude photos of children estimated to be between the ages of three and five during bathroom breaks and diaper changes, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), before sending them to Laughton via text. (RELATED: Doctor Pushing Puberty Blockers On Teen Boy Was Charged With Possessing Child Porn)

Groves’ and Laughton’s phones contained over 10,000 text messages between them in just one month in 2023, which included discussion and transfer of explicit photographs of the children.

Laughton was originally elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives in 2012 but later announced he would not take office, pointing to three felony convictions related to credit card fraud in 2008. Laughton, who reportedly had plans to become a minister, later served in the House from 2020 to 2022.

Laughton pleaded guilty in November 2025 to three counts of sexual exploitation of children and now faces over 33 years in prison. Groves also pleaded guilty in October 2025 to three counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of distribution of child pornography, later being sentenced to nearly 22 years. (RELATED: As Medical Org Pushing Child Sex Changes Lucks Out In Court, A Bigger Legal Battle Brews)

“The conduct at issue here is abhorrent,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo. “These were children who were not yet fully potty trained, not old enough to even go to the bathroom themselves, and not fully verbal.”

“This was not a ‘crime of opportunity’ in the sense in which we typically think of that concept,” the sentencing memo said. “This was planned, it was strategized, and it was carried out for the sexual gratification of one or both defendants in this case.”