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When it comes to obeying the law, the Kearsarge School District is suffering from legal schizophrenia.

On one hand, district officials claim they can’t stop a convicted sex offender busted for child pornography from walking on campus to attend girls soccer games.

On the other hand, they claim the right to ignore New Hampshire’s state law banning biological males from playing on the girls’ soccer team.

The player is Maelle Jacques, a biological male who identifies as a girl and plays goalie for Kearsarge.

The convicted sex offender, who’s scheduled to report to prison in December but insists on attending games today, is Jacques’ father, Marc.

Kearsarge is scrambling to contain the damage the district’s administration created when it became known that officials were aware that parent Marc Jacques pleaded guilty to distributing child sex abuse images earlier this year. Marc Jacques was never prevented by school officials from going to any girl’s soccer games this year to watch his child Maelle Jacques compete.

“Because these events are open to the public, the district may restrict access only in the case of a prior civil no trespass order, or active court order. In general terms, we cannot selectively determine who may or may not attend any event,” Superintendent John Fortney said in a letter sent to parents this week.

Marc Jacques is back in custody after he allegedly violated the conditions of his pre-incarceration release by possessing a flash drive containing more child sex abuse images.  Marc Jacques was sentenced to five years in prison last month, but given until December to report to prison authorities to begin his sentence. 

It is not unusual for federal defendants to get a few weeks of freedom between the sentencing hearing and the start of their incarceration. That time is meant to allow the defendants to get their affairs in order before going to prison. 

But Marc Jacques was given months of pre-incarceration release after he pleaded with the court that his child, Maelle Jacques, needed him at the soccer games. Marc Jacques said factors like the state law banning biological boys from playing girl’s sports, and potential threats of violence against transgender people, required that he be at the games.

“Maelle is going to need me to be present and in attendance to support [Maelle] and protect [Maelle] in the face of the fears [Maelle] will have of what could happen to [Maelle] on the athletic fields,” Marc Jacques wrote.

But Fortney is also telling parents who are upset that a biological male is on the high school’s girls soccer team that Kearsarge is not going to comply with state law. In New Hampshire, state law requires high school athletes to compete on the team that matches their sex at birth.

But the school district told parents who want the law enforced that it refuses to do so.

“Relative to HB 1205, this bill is a violation of federal law, the U.S. Constitution, and NH’s own Civil Rights Provision,” the district declared, without evidence or any court rulings confirming their statements.

While a federal judge has suspended the enforcement of HB 1205 for two specific students, the law has not been overridden, nor has it been declared unconstitutional.

“Kearsarge is violating the law,” an attorney with knowledge of the case told NHJournal on background.

As for the convicted sex offender, Fortney claims Kearsarge takes the safety of all the students seriously, and consulted with police and attorneys about the matter. Sutton Police Chief Jonathan Korbet told NHJournal he had conversations with Kearsarge about the girl’s soccer games.

“We decided it was necessary to provide police details at JV and varsity girl’s soccer games,” Korbet said.

Under the conditions of the pre-incarceration release, Marc Jacques is to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18. Korbet said that condition is vague and difficult to enforce at the soccer games.

“It’s hard to determine what constitutes unsupervised. In a public place, in a public setting, one could argue that’s not unsupervised,” Korbet said.

But Kearsarge knew Marc Jacques was going to away girl’s soccer games as well. Hopkinton Superintendent Michael Flynn said this week officials in his district were unaware of Marc Jacques’ conviction until hours before the Kearsarge team was set to play at Hopkinton on Oct. 7. Flynn also talked to local police and the Hopkinton’s legal team, and put in a safety plan 45 minutes before the game time. Like Fortney, Flynn said he legally could not stop Marc Jacques from attending the game.

“We want to make sure that we, as a school district, follow the laws. I am not able to arrest anybody, and I can’t create court orders,” Flynn said.

At the Oct. 7 Hopkinton game, Marc Jacques was caught on video interacting with a young boy until the child’s mother was alerted. NHJournal has seen the video, but is not sharing it in order to protect the boy’s identity.

The hands-off treatment Marc Jacques received from multiple school districts before he was arrested for violating his release is in stark contrast to the way the Bow School District treated a group of parents who engaged in a silent protest last month.

Kyle Fellers and Anthony “Andy” Foote were slapped with no trespassing orders by Bow school officials for wearing pink “XX” wristbands at the Sept. 17 girl’s soccer game. Bow officials claim they acted out of an obligation to protect a transgender student on the opposing Plymouth High School team from the silent protest. 

The people who allowed a man convicted of distributing child sex abuse images to roam the sidelines at Kearsarge girls’ soccer games are silent now that he’s been arrested yet again, on charges he possessed yet another stash of child pornography.

But one of the parents who blew the whistle on Marc Jacques, Betsy Harrington, is still speaking out. The mother of a Hillsboro-Deering High School student, Harrington, was shocked when she learned about Marc Jasques’ conviction and the fact his status as a felon was being hidden from parents. Harrington first learned about Marc Jacques after she saw him at a girl’s soccer game earlier this month.

“The school never told the girls, never told the parents,” Harrington said.

Many of the Hillsboro-Deering girls boycotted the game with Kearsarge over Maelle Jacques’ participation, a scenario repeating itself all this season. Nearly 6 feet tall, biological male Maelle Jacques is already a champion girls track athlete, easily beating his biologically female competitors during the state championship this year. 

Marc Jacques and Kearsarge have been riding the wave of progressive support for males who identify as female, getting Maelle Jacques nominated for a Biden White House “Girls Leading Change” award. 

A day after the game between the Kearsarge and Hillsboro-Deering girls soccer teams, Harrington was horrified to learn about Marc Jacques’ conviction. Harrington started contacting school officials, police, elected representatives — anyone who might be able to do something about Marc Jaques being at the game.

“Someone has to listen,” Harrington said.

Marc Jaques isn’t going to more games any time soon. He’s locked up as a danger to the community after he was arrested Friday for having a new, secret stash of child sex abuse images, according to court records.

Multiple public officials knew about his conviction for months, and still let him go to games to watch his child compete. In fact, according to U.S. Attorney for the District of New Hampshire Jane Young, it took the efforts of many concerned parents like Harrington calling to get the United State Probation Department to take a second look.

“I commend those parents for calling here. I would ask if there is a parent who has a concern that they continue to call,” Young said.

Marc Jaques pleaded guilty in February to sharing dozens of videos and photos depicting child sex abuse images with pedophiles online. Law enforcement found hundreds of abuse videos and photos on Marc Jacques’ digital devices. He claimed in court that he suffers from a sex addiction.

According to court documents. Marc Jaques spent years chatting online with predators, sharing his fantasies about raping children, and even tracking down the identity of at least one of the victims and sharing that identity with other disturbed men online. And yet school officials allowed him to attend Kearsarge girl’s soccer games.

That stands in stark contrast to the treatment of two parents in Bow, N.H., who were slapped with no trespass orders by the Superintendent of Schools for wearing pink wristbands with “XX” written on them to girls soccer game to show their support for girls-only sports.

Kearsarge School District Superintendent John Fortney, Assistant Superintendent Michael Bessette, and School Board Chair Alison Mastin, all failed to respond to requests for comment NHJournal. A review of Kearsarge school board meetings indicates the board held a non-public session in September dealing with the Marc Jacques legal question.

After the guilty plea, Marc Jacques was free on bail pending his sentencing hearing in the United States District Court in Concord. He was sentenced to five years in prison last month, but given until December to report to the Bureau of Prisons to begin his sentence. From his guilty plea through to his arrest last week, Marc Jacques was under no legal restriction to stay away from people under the age of 18. 

However, according to his sentencing form filed in court, once he serves his prison sentence and is released on probation, Marc Jacques will be prohibited from any contact with a child under 18, and he will be prohibited from even going to a park, playground, or sporting event where people under the age of 18 will be present. 

Chief United States Probation Officer Kevin Lavigne declined to speak in detail about Marc Jacques’ release conditions, and he could not answer why a man deemed too dangerous to be around children once he has served his prison sentence was allowed to be around children before he reported to prison.

Harrington, a retired prison counselor who worked with convicted sex offenders, said Marc Jacques’ treatment throughout the case makes no sense. He first popped up on law enforcement radar for child sex abuse image distribution years before he was arrested, she said.

“I don’t think we know the depths of his offending yet. I think the biggest problem was the length of time he had to reoffend,” Harrington said. “There was too much time between the time he was caught, to the time he pled guilty, to the time he was sentenced, to the time he was incarcerated. It all added up to too much time available to reoffend. Plus he was around girls the whole time.”

Harrington thinks Marc Jacques used the debate over his child Maelle Jacques to create sympathy and get a light sentence and easy pre-incarceration conditions. While Young’s office sought 78 months in prison for Marc Jacques, he ended up with a 60-month sentence. Harrington thinks the many school and court officials who should have known better caved to the transgender narrative Marc Jacques pushed.

“That was why he got the weaker pre-incarceration conditions,” Harrington said.

Before his sentencing, Marc Jacques wrote a letter to the court pleading for leniency. His argument was that Maelle Jacques needed him to support the process of gender transition. In the letter, Marc Jacques stated Maelle Jacques’ mother does not think gender transition is the right treatment.

“Transgendered teens have the highest rate of suicide in the United States, and I am afraid for Maelle and her path if she is forced to live with her mother and her stepmother in a home where she is not supported and feels unwelcome,” Marc Jacques wrote.

United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire Jane Young

Young said the Probation Department claimed they had Marc Jacques on some of the strictest pre-incarceration conditions available, and that he had been complying with all of those supposedly strict conditions. 

“We considered him somebody who needed to serve a significant period of time in prison, but we also had information about him abiding by those conditions. We are only as good at the information we are given,” Young said.

After a flood of calls from parents like Harrington, the United States Attorney’s Office contacted Probation about concerns that Marc Jacques was a danger. Marc Jacques’ probation officer then checked his monitored internet and found a new, illicit digital storage device was being used. On that device were more images of child sex abuse, according to court records. 

“It’s disturbing and quite frankly unacceptable,” Young said.

Young deferred questions to Lavigne, but said this case highlights the need for greater scrutiny of probationers and their conditions. Without tight conditions and assertive probation officers, prosecutors and judges are left in the dark, Young said.

New Hampshire’s ACLU is siding with the producers of AI-created child sex abuse images over New Hampshire’s kids, critics say, opposing legislation to ban deepfake child porn in New Hampshire.

And at least one Democratic state senator says siding with criminals and against victims is nothing new for the progressive organization.

“It has been my experience in working for laws that protect crime victims the ACLU has not necessarily been a partner in protecting the rights of the people who have been harmed by criminals so much as protecting the rights of the criminals,” said Sen. Deb Altschiller (D-Stratham). “I have yet to have a criminal justice bill that they have embraced.”

Altschiller is the prime sponsor of SB564, which “expands the definition of ‘child’ under the child sexual abuse images statute to include those images that are portrayed to be a person under the age of 18 and are thus indistinguishable from a child.” She testified before the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Wednesday, and that’s when she first learned of the ACLU’s opposition to her legislation.

ACLU-NH Legal Director Gilles Bissonnette

Gilles Bissonnette, ACLU-NH’s Legal Director, did not testify in person. Instead, he submitted a written statement revealing his organization’s position: AI-generated child sex abuse images are protected speech under the First Amendment.

“These images are protected by the First Amendment and Part I, Article 22 insofar as they are neither produced using minors nor do they appear to depict a specific, identifiable person,” Bissonnette wrote.

Altschiller told the committee this expanded definition is needed as the scourge of child sex abuse image trafficking is colliding with the rise of easily available AI programs that can create new, realistic images, sometimes using the images of real children.

“Once something is out there, you can’t unring the bell,” Altschiller said.

New Hampshire State Police Sgt. Hawley Rae also testified on behalf of Altschiller’s legislation, arguing that people who consume child sex abuse images are statistically more likely to engage in abuse IRL (“In Real Life.”) 

New Hampshire already has a problem with people trafficking these types of abusive images, and the potential for abusers using deepfake technology to make new abuse images from the photos of real children should be sobering, Rae said.

“Kids are vulnerable, especially in the social media world, and I can only assume this will be a problem in the AI world as well,” Rae said.

Bissonnette’s objection to the bill is founded on prior court rulings that hold child sex abuse images created without using real children are protected. The 2002 United States Supreme Court decision in Ashcroft v. Free Speech  Coalition and the 2008 New Hampshire Supreme Court decision in State v. Zidel both found that child sex abuse images that did not depict real children are allowed.

“SB564 presents serious constitutional concerns under Ashcroft and Zidel because it sweeps within its scope images that are not limited to depictions of an ‘identifiable’ (meaning ‘recognizable as an actual, specific person’) minor who was actually victimized,” Bissonnette wrote.

Rep. Terry Roy (R-Deerfield) said neither the Ashcroft nor Zidel courts were dealing with the reality of the new dangers children face today.

“The Ashcroft court didn’t have to contend with the AI technology at all,” Roy said.

Interestingly, the ACLU’s hardline “free speech” absolutism on child porn doesn’t apply to political speech Bissonnette and his organization find objectionable. The ACLU-NH’s policy today is to decline to defend free speech that “denigrates [marginalized] groups” and “impedes progress toward equality.” That includes refusing to defend the free speech rights of allegedly right-wing groups whose “values are contrary to our values” and whose words might offend the “marginalized.”

The ACLU’s guidelines state, “As an organization equally committed to free speech and equality, we should make every effort to consider the consequences of our actions.”

What about the “consequences” of graphic, violent child porn, critics ask.

Given the advances in technology, Rep. David Meuse (D-Portsmouth) said failing to act now could have dire consequences for New Hampshire’s children sooner rather than later.

“I feel that composite images today are so realistic … they’re virtually indistinguishable from an image of a real child. These images just create a market for more images,” Meuse said. “The very fact that a market for this type of material exists, if we continue to allow that market to exist, real children are going to be harmed.”

The committee voted unanimously to approve the bill, moving it closer to a full House vote.

A New Hampshire family said in a new lawsuit their daughter is one of the victims in the child sex abuse image case brought against former Democratic state Rep. Stacie Laughton and Laughton’s girlfriend, Lindsay Groves.

Both Laughton, 39, and Groves, 38, are currently held without bail on child sex abuse image charges out of state and federal courts. Groves used her position at Creative Minds daycare in Tyngsborough, Mass., to take explicit nude photos of children and text them to Laughton, according to court records.

The family also suspects their daughter was sexually abused by Groves, according to the lawsuit.

Filed in Middlesex Superior Court in Massachusetts, the lawsuit claims the New Hampshire child was the subject of sexually explicit photos Groves took while she was enrolled at Creative Minds. 

Creative Minds is owned by Maura Sheehy Costello and Erica Jussaume of Massachusetts, with daycare center branches in Dracut and Tyngsborough. Neither could be reached for comment.

According to the suit, Sheehy Costello and Jussaume allowed Groves access to the children at the daycare despite the fact that Groves was repeatedly reported for inappropriate behavior. The family is suing the business owned by Sheehy Costello and Jussaume for negligence in hiring Groves and keeping her employed despite the red flags.

“As a result of the Defendant’s neglect, the Plaintiffs have reason to believe that their daughter may have been sexually exploited by Lindsay Groves while the minor was under the care of Creative Minds,” the lawsuit states.

The family is being kept anonymous in the legal filings, with the father and mother referred to as John and Jane Doe, and the child referred to as Jane Doe. They are represented by Lowell attorney Roger Peace. Peace did not respond to a request for comment.

This is the second lawsuit brought against Creative Minds since Groves and Laughton were arrested in June.

A Massachusetts mother filed a lawsuit against Creative Minds last month alleging her young son was sexually molested by Groves at the Tyngsborough center. That lawsuit also alleges Sheehy Costello and Jussaume were told about Groves inappropriately touching children in 2018 and told she was taking explicit photos in 2022, and yet she remained on the job.

According to court records in the criminal case, Groves and Laughton exchanged approximately 10,000 text messages over the past 18 months, including numerous explicit photos of the children Groves was caring for at the facility. During one text message conversation, the pair discussed raping children, and Laughton appeared to admit having raped a child in the past.

“LAUGHTON: I was asking because I know we’ve had some back-and-forth, and I know we initially said we do nothing with kids ever again, and you said you were afraid that if we had kids if they would go back and tell the parents the same with the kids you work with.”

In the same exchange, Laughton and Groves discussed the possibility of raping children at Creative Minds.

“GROVES: I want to do it with the kids at work 

GROVES: than you can put your **** inside them

GROVES: I wasn’t being serious about the kids running back and telling their parents 

GROVES: Plus, I want to do it with kids who use to come here cause they can enjoy it 

LAUGHTON: Well, I know but you were afraid that the kids at work might tell their parents and we said we would do it if we knew we were not gonna get caught and I was just wondering like like basically you have no problem with that…”

Laughton became New Hampshire’s first transgender elected official in 2012 but is now more famous for a career of criminal exploits. Laughton, a Democratic state representative, was forced to resign shortly after the 2012 election when it was learned the erstwhile lawmaker was still on probation for a felony theft conviction. Laughton has also been charged with stalking and making bomb threats.

Laughton was reelected to a Nashua House seat in 2020 and, after winning reelection again in 2022, spent weeks in jail after being charged with stalking and harassing Groves, according to court records.

Though Laughton and Groves remain at Valley Street Jail in Manchester pending trial, Groves was recently deemed safe for release by a federal judge. The Boston Office of the United States Attorney is appealing that decision. Groves is staying locked up until the appeal is heard.

The Hudson woman who allegedly supplied former Democratic State Rep. Stacie Laughton with child sex abuse images is set to be freed from jail.

A federal judge ruled Lindsay Groves, 38, can remain out of jail pending her trial on charges of sexual exploitation of children, aiding and abetting, and distribution of child pornography so long as she meets certain conditions.

Laughton, 39, faces identical federal and state charges of distributing child sex abuse images. Laughton, who identifies as transgendered, is being held without bail in the male population at Valley Street Jail in Manchester.

A federal judge ruled last week that Groves can be released safely, meaning she would not be a danger to the community so long as she lives with her parents, has no contact with children, and does not use an iPhone or other internet-connected devices.

“Critically, however, the court finds that conditions of release can be fashioned to address this risk and reasonably assure the safety of the community,” the ruling states.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston will appeal this order. Groves will remain locked up until another judge hears the appeal and rules on the potential release. Groves is also being held at the Valley Street Jail with the female population.

Investigators said Groves used her job at Creative Minds Daycare in Tyngsborough, Mass., to access young children for the graphic photos she shared with Laughton. Court records released in the case include a text conversation with a seeming admission from Laughton that the pair had raped children in the past and planned to do it again.

Groves and Laughton were arrested last month in the child sex abuse image case, a culmination of their twisted relationship. In recent years, the pair have been involved in multiple court cases and no contact orders. One case last year landed Laughton in jail for stalking Groves right after Laughton had won re-election to the legislature. According to the court records in the stalking case, Laughton was publicly calling Groves a pedophile and using social media to amplify that accusation.

As Laughton was receiving the child sex abuse photos from Groves, the disgraced lawmaker was engaging in sexually explicit text conversations with Groves about having sex with children, according to court records. Laughton started showing other people the photos being sent by Groves last month, and texting the photos to those people, according to the complaint filed in federal court. The people who got the photos were disturbed by the images and reported the matter to the police, according to the complaint.

Laughton became New Hampshire’s first elected transgender state representative in 2012 and was praised by New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley as part of the “backbone of the Granite State.”

After days of evasion — and under pressure from public officials hearing from a concerned public — Hillsborough County jail officials confirmed to NHJournal Thursday that former Democratic state Rep. Stacie Marie Laughton is being “housed in a male unit.”

The information was released the same day Laughton — a biological male who identifies as a woman — was indicted on new federal charges in a child daycare pornography case. The graphic details of the alleged crimes — involving children under the age of five — have left many in the Granite State stunned.

On Thursday, a grand jury handed up indictments against Laughton, 39, and lover Lindsay Groves, 38, on three counts each of sexual exploitation of children. Groves is also charged with one count of distributing child pornography.

Laughton additionally faces state charges of distributing child sex abuse images. The pair have been held in jail since their arrests last month.

After refusing for days to disclose where accused child pornographer Laughton is being held, Hillsborough County Department of Corrections Superintendent Joseph Costanzo relented and confirmed New Hampshire’s first transgender elected representative is being housed with other men.

“The individual you are seeking information on is housed in a male unit in accordance with PREA standard 115.42(c) & (e). The specific location and housing unit and cell assignment will not be disclosed to protect the safety of all individuals and the security of the institution,” Costanzo told NHJournal via email.

Laughton is listed as a biological male on the jail intake forms.

CLICK HERE FOR A FULL TIMELINE OF LAUGHTON’S CRIMINAL ACTIVITY, RECORD AS NH HOUSE DEM

Both Groves and Laughton are being held at Valley Street Jail in Manchester. Costanzo initially told NHJournal it was his policy not to disclose that information, claiming it was not a matter of public record. However, he could not cite any specific written policy or law prohibiting public disclosure.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, policies Costanzo cites deal with screening transgender and intersex inmates for housing assignments.

“(c) In deciding whether to assign a transgender or intersex inmate to a facility for male or female inmates and in making other housing and programming assignments, the agency shall consider on a case-by-case basis whether a placement would ensure the inmate’s health and safety and whether the placement would present management or security problems.”

And:

“(e) A transgender or intersex inmate’s own views with respect to his or her own safety shall be given serious consideration.”

State Rep. Kathrine Prudhomme O’Brien (R-Derry), who was among those pushing Costanzo to disclose Laughton’s housing gender assignment, said Laughton being kept with biological men is a victory for public safety.

“The safety of female inmates is important, and there shouldn’t be loopholes that could be taken advantage of that make them more vulnerable. I’m pleased to learn Laughton is housed appropriately,” Prudhomme O’Brien said.

Laughton has been in long-term relationships with biological women like his wife, Lisa Laughton, and Groves.

Laughton made national news in 2012 by becoming the first elected transgender member of the New Hampshire legislature, winning accolades from New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley — despite the Democrat’s criminal history. After years of run-ins with the law, Laughton was still on a suspended sentence for a 2008 felony credit card fraud conviction under his original name, Barry Laughton, when Democrats endorsed him for the state House.

Laughton’s tangled criminal and political career also includes making a bomb threat at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center and stalking Groves.

According to a statement released Thursday, Groves worked at Creative Minds located in Tyngsborough, Mass. It is alleged that, between May 2022 and June 2023, Groves took nude images of children at the daycare and sent the photos to Laughton.

The pair engaged in graphic text conversations in which they discussed child rape. At one point, Laughton appears to admit to having raped a child in the past. Groves is accused in a civil lawsuit of molesting children at the daycare.

The investigation remains ongoing.

A man once entrusted with teaching Granite State children is going to prison after pleading guilty to raping a student at Rundlett Middle School in Concord.

Primo “Howie” Leung, 40, was employed at Rundlett and Concord High School before his arrest in April 2019 on child rape charges in Massachusetts.

He entered guilty pleas Wednesday in Middlesex District Court in Woburn, Mass., to two charges of aggravated rape of a child with a 10-year age difference; two counts of aggravated indecent assault and battery on a child under 14; and two counts of aggravated indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.

The plea agreement will see the disgraced teacher serve at least six years in a Massachusetts prison and then probation for another three years after his release. Leung is required to register as a sex offender, wear a GPS monitor while on probation, and have no contact with the victim or her family. He is also to stay away from the Concord School District.

Leung is further barred from ever teaching again in New Hampshire or likely anywhere else in the U.S. His teaching credentials in New Hampshire were revoked when he was first charged four years ago, and his name was reported to the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education Certification. 

“The Department worked aggressively to ensure that Mr. Leung will never be allowed to work with students again, and it will continue to proactively protect the safety of all students,” said New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut.

Leung reportedly used his position at the Concord middle school to groom the victim, then 13, kissing and fondling her in Concord starting around 2014. He also encouraged her to attend a summer camp for English language learners, where he volunteered. It was at the camp in Newton, Mass., where Leung reportedly raped the girl. The girl spent two summers at the camp.

“There are no words to describe the heinous actions against this young girl and no sentence that could ever bring back her innocence,” Edelblut said. “As educators, it is our job to protect students and prioritize their safety, but Mr. Leung instead chose to deliberately victimize a student entrusted to his care. It is our hope that, now four years later, she has found the strength, support, and purpose to overcome the violence and massive breach of trust.”

The girl and her family received a $1 million settlement from the district in 2022 to settle a lawsuit they brought accusing the district of failing to keep her safe from a predator.

After the accusations against Leung were finally taken seriously by the district in 2018, Concord School District officials decided to hire an independent investigator, who reported district officials ignored clear warning signs about Leung’s treatment of female students for years. At one point in 2014, a seventh-grade girl was suspended for reporting that Leung was having an affair with a student. The district did not investigate her story; instead, she was disciplined for “gossiping,” according to the report.

There were multiple instances of Leung’s behavior with teen girls being discussed among staff, with some saying that he made them feel uncomfortable with the way he treated the girls. But over the years, he was never formally investigated by the district and never brought up for any discipline for his behavior. 

After a group of students reported Leung to officials in 2018 for being intimate with a teen girl in his car, the district finally investigated. However, according to the report, Leung stayed on the job and remained around students for another three and a half months.

Leung has yet to be charged in New Hampshire. The independent report stated there could be multiple victims in the Granite State. 

Former Nashua Democratic State Rep. Stacie Laughton talked about raping children and appears to admit having committed the crime in the past, according to the federal complaint filed this week.

“I was asking because I know we’ve had some back-and-forth, and I know we initially said we do nothing with kids ever again, and you said you were afraid that if we had kids if they would go back and tell the parents the same with the kids you work with,” Laughton texted to lover and co-defendant, Lindsay Groves.

Investigators combed through 10,000 text messages between the pair this year as part of the child sex abuse image case that’s put them both behind bars for now. 

Prosecutors with the United States Attorney’s Office in Boston announced Laughton, 39, is now indicted on a federal charge for the sexual exploitation of children and faces up to 30 years in prison on that one count.

Grove, 36, was working at a Tyngsborough daycare where she allegedly took explicit photos of the children in her care and texted them to Laughton. The two discussed the photos and discussed sexually assaulting children, according to prosecutors.

“(A) preliminary forensic review of Groves’ cellphone allegedly revealed over 10,000 text messages between Laughton and Groves that included discussion about, and transfer of, explicit photographs that Groves had taken of children while employed at Creative Minds daycare – including at least four sexually explicit images of children who appear to be approximately three to five years old, as well as explicit descriptions of sex with each other and others, including children,” prosecutors said in a statement.

According to the complaint, Laughton and Grove discussed raping the children at the daycare facility. In one chilling exchange, they discussed how to get away with the horrific crime. Laughton maintained there was nothing wrong with sexually abusing children:

GROVES: You mentioned how I said I was afraid that the kids will run to the parents if we do it with them I wasn’t being serious

LAUGHTON: OK because like I get concerned about that cause I don’t wanna get caught if we do

GROVES: I was joking anyway and you took me serious

LAUGHTON: Oh I know but I just don’t wanna get in trouble. I mean I want to do what we want to do because we like it and we approve of it but others think this is wrong. Lots of parents don’t like people touching their kids and it is against the law …”

Laughton is currently being held without bail on state charges connected to the case. The former state representative will be arranged in the federal court in Boston at a later date. Groves is being held without bail on federal charges brought last month.

Laughton became New Hampshire’s first transgender elected official in 2012, but the most significant history the Nashua Democrat has made is as a criminal. 

Laughton was forced to resign from the House in 2012 after it was learned the newly-elected representative was still on probation on a felony theft charge. Laughton has also been charged with stalking and making bomb threats.

 After regaining the seat in 2020 and winning reelection in 2022, Laughton spent weeks in jail after being charged with stalking and harassing Groves, according to court records. 

Laughton and Groves have a disturbing history of their own. Laughton reportedly harassed Groves and her family off and on for years. After being arrested last year for harassing Groves, Laughton was accused of using a local radio show and social media accounts to stalk Groves and repeatedly called 911 to report Groves was suicidal, according to court records. At one point during this campaign of harassment, Laughton referred to Groves as “wife,” though there is no record that they were legally married.

As part of the harassment case, Laughton is alleged to have repeatedly tried to get Groves fired from her job at the daycare and called Groves a pedophile on social media and on her radio program, according to court records.

Federal prosecutors say members of the public with questions, concerns, or information regarding this case should call 617 748 3274. Case information, including links to charging documents and victim resources, can also be found here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/victim-and-witness-assistance-program/united-states-v-lindsay-groves 

Last June, New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley gave a shoutout to state Rep. Stacie-Marie Laughton as one of the “LGBTQIA+ Democrats who are the backbone of the Granite State.”

Today, former Rep. Laughton is under arrest on charges of trafficking child sex abuse images taken by a former lover at a Massachusetts daycare.

When Buckley gave his endorsement last year, Laughton had already been in and out of jail on multiple charges, including credit card fraud and calling in a false bomb threat. But the shocking new charges — Laughton’s partner allegedly took photos of young children at Creative Minds daycare in Tyngsboro — are more serious than the crime of stalking for which Laughton was most recently jailed.

Lindsay Groves, 38, of Hudson, N.H., allegedly used her position at the daycare to take explicit photos of children, sending them to Laughton, who in turn distributed those images to others, according to court documents.

The arrest warrant affidavits in both their cases were still under seal Friday afternoon in the Hillsborough Superior Court—South in Nashua, but the available records show a link between the two cases.

“Groves allegedly used natural bathroom breaks for the children (routine diaper/pull-up changes before ‘naptime’) to take multiple photos of the prepubescent children in a private bathroom and then sent the photos to the individual via text message,” federal prosecutors wrote in a statement on Groves’ arrest.

That same day, Laughton was arrested in Nashua after police were tipped off about the Democrat’s alleged distribution of child sex abuse images. The court descriptions of the child sex abuse images that Groves took with her cell phone and the images that Laughton distributed to others are identical.

Laughton, New Hampshire’s first transgender elected official, spent weeks in jail last year after being charged with stalking and harassing Grove, according to court records. 

Laughton and Groves have a disturbing relationship, and Laughton reportedly harassed Groves and her family off and on for years. When Laughton was arrested last year for harassing Groves, the state representative was accused of using a radio show and social media accounts to stalk Groves and repeatedly called 911 to report Groves was suicidal, according to court records. At one point during the campaign of harassment, Laughton used the word “wife” to describe Groves.

A strange twist in the harassment case alleged Laughton repeatedly tried to get Groves fired from her job at Creative Minds and spread rumors on social media and on the radio that Groves is a pedophile, according to court records.

Laughton’s criminal history is extensive, including being convicted in 2008 for credit card fraud for stealing from a person in Laconia and charged in 2015 for calling in a bomb threat at the Southern New Hampshire Medical Center hospital in Nashua. Those charges were later dropped as Laughton claimed to be suffering from a mental health crisis at the time.

Laughton first became a state representative from the Democratic stronghold of Nashua in 2012 but was forced to resign soon after when the 2008 credit card fraud arrest became public. Despite pressure from the Democratic Party, Laughton tried to run to fill the vacancy created by the Democrat’s own resignation. But that bid was cut short when it was deemed Laughton was legally ineligible for office since the candidate was still technically serving a suspended sentence for the felony credit card fraud case.

Laughton ran for the seat again in 2020 without any public pushback from the New Hampshire Democratic Party. But re-election in 2022 turned problematic when the stalking arrest left Laughton behind bars on Organization Day, unable to cast a vote for the Democratic Caucus. At that point, Buckley and other Democrats called for Laughton to resign. 

Laughton left the House and entered a plea agreement on the stalking charges. Asked by NHJournal if this was the end of politics for the Nashua Democrat, Laughton said another run for office after completing court-ordered therapy is possible.