Former New Hampshire State Rep. Stacie Marie Laughton, the first openly transgender male-to-female to win election to a state office in the state, was arrested on child pornography charges on Thursday.
Laughton, a Democrat from Nashua who presents himself to the world as a woman, faces four felony counts of distribution of child sexual abuse images. This comes after a series of legal issues that have marred Laughton’s political career.
Laughton’s troubles began in 2012 when he became a representative-elect for the New Hampshire House of Representatives. However, he was forced to step down due to prior felony convictions for credit card fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud.
Despite these setbacks, Laughton won the election in 2022, but just one week later, he resigned from office following stalking charges brought against him. The incident involved a woman from Hudson, New Hampshire that Laughton was accused of stalking.
The recent arrest of Laughton came after Nashua Police received reports from a daycare facility in Tyngsboro, a quaint town in Massachusetts. According to the public information officer for the Nashua Police Department, Laughton had distributed sexually explicit images of children that he got from a daycare center operator who took photos of children when they were going to the bathroom.
Police have since arrested a 38-year-old woman at the daycare center. She faces charges of sexual exploitation of children and distribution of child pornography.
Laughton was arraigned Friday. He is locked up in Manchester, and the corrections record lists him as a man whose aliases include Barry Charles Laughton.
