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Marc Jacques, the convicted child porn felon who has been lurking at local girls high school sports events for months, now faces a new round of charges for allegedly possessing child sex abuse images.

According to a statement from the office of U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young, the latest illicit content found in Jacques’ possession includes “several videos and images that appear to depict pubescent, minor females engaged in sexually explicit conduct.”

But perhaps even more disturbing is the fact that his probation officer had evidence of the alleged crimes for months and never bothered to take action, according to the affidavit filed in the United States District Court in New Hampshire.

Jacques, 50, is the father of Kearsarge High School’s Maelle Jacques, a biological male track athlete who won an NHIAA championship last year while competing against girls. Maelle Jacques’ participation on the Kearsarge girls’ soccer team last season caused several teams to forfeit games as the district ignored a state law protecting female athletes from being forced to compete against males.

But Marc Jacques’ unsupervised attendance at the same games inspired outrage when parents found out about his criminal history. Marc Jacques was allowed to be at numerous high school games and extracurricular events this school year, using his transgender child as a shield. 

Marc Jacques was convicted in March in a child sex abuse image case, but remained free on bail pending his sentencing. Though he was sentenced in September to five years in prison, the former Dartmouth College employee was allowed to remain free on bail — and attend school events — until Dec. 2.

On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced new charges against Marc Jacques, including a new count of possessing child sex abuse images after he was caught downloading videos and photos depicting children being sexually abused while he was on bail. 

According to Homeland Security Investigations Agent Derek Dunn’s affidavit, Marc Jacques accessed and downloaded the child sex abuse images in August and September using devices that his probation officer was supposed to be monitoring. Marc Jacques was allowed to use a laptop, a desktop computer, and a cell phone while on bail after his probation officer installed monitoring software.

In both instances, the monitoring software captured the activity when Marc Jacques allegedly downloaded the child sex abuse material, but his probation officer never checked the software reports until October, Dunn writes. The videos and images reportedly depict young prepubescent girls being abused.

In October, parents in the high school sports community were concerned that Marc Jacques was attending Kearsarge girl’s soccer games despite his sex crimes conviction. Several parents contacted the United States Attorney’s Office in Concord with questions about why Marc Jacques was being allowed free access to the games.

The United States Attorney’s Office contacted Marc Jacques’ probation officer on Oct. 15 to discuss the conditions of release set for the convicted sex offender. This conversation prompted the probation officer to check the monitoring software on Oct. 16, for the first time since at least August, according to Dunn’s report.

Marc Jaques was arrested on Oct. 18 for violating his bail. He’s since started his five-year sentence in the original case. 

It’s not unheard of for people convicted in federal criminal cases to get a few weeks of freedom before starting their sentences, allowing them to get their personal affairs in order. But Marc Jacques received months of extra time after he pleaded to United States District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro that his transitioning son Maelle Jacques needed him at the high school soccer games.

“Maelle is going 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 in a letter to the court ahead of his September sentencing.

Kearsarge officials knew about the conviction and sentencing, but allowed Marc Jacques to be at the games anyway. They also said nothing to opposing teams when Kearsarge went on the road. Superintendent John Fortney said in a letter to parents after the Oct. 18 arrest that there was no legal way for the district to stop Marc Jacques from attending the games, despite the conviction.

Marc Jacques is due in the federal court in January for an initial appearance. 

The ‘Soccer Dad’ season is over for Marc Jacques.

The father of a male Kearsarge High School athlete who’s a star in girls competitions, Jacques has agreed to start his prison sentence on a federal conviction for distributing child sex abuse images.

Marc Jacques was sentenced to five years in prison back in September. But using concerns over his child’s challenges as a male who identifies as female, he was given until December to turn himself in. Part of the reason was to let him attend his child Maelle Jacques’ girls soccer games.

When parents learned a man convicted of child porn charges was attending their daughters’ soccer matches, they immediately expressed alarm. They were even more upset when the elder Jacques was busted last month for allegedly accessing more child sex abuse images online while he was on supervised, pre-incarceration release.

Last week, Marc Jacques waived his violation hearing and agreed to begin his five-year prison term.

Maelle Jacques, a biological boy, dominated the girls track competition earlier this year. Maelle Jacques’ participation on the Kearsarge girl’s soccer team caused several teams to forfeit games as the district openly flouts a state law banning biological boys from girl’s sports.

Initially, girls on opposing teams and their families were concerned about the competitive imbalance presented by Maelle Jacques playing goalie, but they were later outraged to learn that Marc Jacques was attending the games despite his status as a convicted sex offender.

Marc Jacques used his child’s sexual identity to successfully plead for more free time before his prison sentence, telling United States District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro that Maelle Jacques needed him 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 in a letter to the court.

Kearsarge officials knew about the conviction and sentence, but they allowed Marc Jacques onto school property to attend games anyway. They also said nothing to opposing teams when Kearsarge went on the road, either. Superintendent John Fortney said in a letter to parents there was no legal way for the district to stop Marc Jacques from attending the games.

“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,” Fortney stated. 

Whether or not the opposing school administrators had advance knowledge of Marc Jacques’ conviction, none of them seemed able or willing to put a stop to his presence.

Hopkinton school officials only found out about Marc Jacques’ conviction when Hillsboro-Deering mother Betsy Harington alerted them hours before Kearsarge and Marc Jacques were set to be in Hopkinton last month.

While Hopkinton did contact police to be present at that game, no steps appear to have been taken to either block Marc Jacques from the game, or alert Hopkinton parents. 

Officials at Bishop Brady High School in Concord were aware of Marc Jacques and his conviction before their game last month with Kearsarge. But Bishop Brady girls and their parents were advised by the Roman Catholic Diocese not to boycott the game. In fact, the girls and their families were told to play against Kearsarge so as not to discriminate against Maelle Jacques.

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.

When parents and players of the Bishop Brady High School soccer team began organizing to oppose a game against a team with a biological male on the roster, they found they faced an opponent off the field as well.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester.

Parents and players began expressing concern about playing against Kearsarge High School and its goalie Maelle Jacques, a male athlete who won the state girls high jump earlier this year.

Word that parents or students might take action prompted Bishop Peter Libasci to huddle with his legal team to craft a statement opposed to a boycott, according to information obtained by NHJournal.

Dave Thibault, Superintendent of Schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, relayed the message, telling the girls they ought to play at Kearsarge out of a sense of Christian charity.

“We don’t believe it’s right to just forfeit a game when playing a team with a transgender athlete because we have an issue that is not being handled properly by another party,” Thibault wrote. 

But the girl’s soccer game against Kearsarge High School was canceled after several team members refused to play. When asked about the incident, Tara Bishop, director of communications for the Diocese, attempted to suggest there was no boycott.

“There simply weren’t enough players available for this game,” Bishop said.

And it’s not just the Maelle Jacques’ presence that had parents worried. Jacques’ father, Marc Jaques, is a regular at his child’s games. He’s also a convicted sex offender.

Marc Jacques attending the Hopkinton versus Kearsarge girls high school girls soccer game on October 7, 2024 at Hopkinton High School.

Marc Jaques was convicted last month on federal charges of distributing child sex abuse material. According to court records, Marc Jaques was found in possession of at least 200 child sex abuse images and video files, many of which he uploaded to the social media platform, Kik. 

Marc Jaques had been free pending his report date to prison, most likely in December, when he will begin a five-year sentence. In the meantime, he’d been seen at the stands for Kearsarge girl’s soccer games. 

To make matters worse for worried parents, federal law enforcement arrested Marc Jaques on Friday, however, on an alleged bail violation. He’s due Monday in the United States District Court in Concord for a bail revocation hearing. 

While Thibault’s statement came before he was reportedly made aware of Bishop Brady parents’ concerns about Marc Jaques, his criminal case has been a matter of public record for months.

Neither Bishop Brady Principal Andrea Elliot nor Athletic Director Annie Mattarazzo responded to requests for comment on Friday.

Elliot did try to allay concerns about Marc Jaques’ presence at the game, however. In an email to parents, Elliot said Kearsarge would have a police presence at the game, and at least three school administrators would be on hand as well. Further, according to Elliot’s email, Marc Jaques would not be permitted on the sideline near the benches. He’s supposed to watch the games from his car in the parking lot, according to Elliot.

However, photos provided to NHJournal show Marc Jaques standing behind the benches and near the sideline during an Oct. 7 game played at Hopkinton High School. 

Marc Jacques attending the Kearsarge v Hopkinton girls soccer game.

Critics of male athletes playing on girls’ sports teams note the irony of the current situation in New Hampshire. While Marc Jacques is allowed seemingly free range at the games pending the start of his prison sentence, Kyle Feller, the father of a Bow High School girl’s soccer player, had to get a federal court order to be able to attend his daughter’s games. Feller’s crime was taking part in a silent protest against biological males in girl’s sports.  

Thibualt urged the Bishop Brady girls and their families not to express their views.

“Parents and fans should not protest, even silently, but attend games in goodwill also seeing the deep, inherent dignity of each and every player,” Thibault wrote. 

A substitute teacher in the Bedford School District now faces three felony charges for possession of child sex abuse images after he was arrested this week.

Jonathan Harrison, 31, of Concord, allegedly used the dark web as far back as 2023 to access the images, according to a statement released by Bedford School District Superintendent Michael Fournier.

“In early August, the Bedford School District was notified that the Maine State Police had contacted Mr. Harrison at his summer place of work. The Maine police, in collaboration with the New Hampshire State Police, acted on a tip alleging that Mr. Harrison had been in possession of pornographic images of children on the dark web in 2023, and possibly earlier,” Fournier wrote in a message to Bedford parents.

Fournier’s letter states Harrison was fired from his job Monday shortly after his arrest, though the district knew about the investigation for a couple of weeks. Harrison was suspended by the district when Bedford officials first became aware of the police inquiry. Fournier states no Bedford student was exploited by Harrison.

“At this time, we have no reason to believe that any of these images involved students from Bedford,” Fournier wrote.

At the time the investigation started, Harrison was working a summer job in Maine, according to Fournier. Harrison was ordered held without bail following his arrest on Monday.

NHJournal has contacted Bedford school officials about what specific classes and dates Harrison taught at the school. They have not yet responded. But WMUR reports Harrison has been placed on unpaid leave and will not be returning to work in the district.

Commissioner of Education Frank Edeblut told NHJournal the Department of Education will be investigating the case as well.

The daycare employee accused of sending thousands of child sex abuse images to her romantic partner, former state Rep. Stacie Marie Laughton (D-Nashua), is getting a mental health evaluation.

Lindsay Groves, 39, of Hudson, was arrested in June 2023 and charged with federal crimes for allegedly taking sexually explicit photos of the children under her supervision in the Tyngsborough daycare where she worked. Groves allegedly sent those images to Laughton as part of their disturbing sex life. 

According to court records, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Cabell last week ordered Groves to be removed from her current jail cell by U.S. Marshalls and brought to a facility where she will undergo a mental health evaluation to determine if she is able to even stand trial.

“I find there is reasonable cause to believe that [Groves] may presently be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering her mentally incompetent within the meaning of [the law],” Cabell wrote.

Groves has been arguing for months she is not mentally competent to stand trial, according to court records, though many of those records are sealed. Cabell’s Aug. 9 order does not give details as to why he finds it reasonable she might be mentally ill.

Both Groves and Laughton are being held without bail pending a trial in the United States District Court in Boston. The last known location the two were being held pretrial was the Valley Street Jail in Manchester. Representatives with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston declined to confirm their present location. At this point, Laughton has not tried to raise the issue of competency.

Prosecutors are under court order to get Groves to an appropriate faculty so the evaluation can be done within the next month by a psychiatrist or psychologist. Then, whoever examines Groves must present a report to Cabell detailing her mental health history, any current diagnosis, and an expert opinion on if Groves is competent to stand trial.

The pair were arrested separately last summer after Laughton started showing other people the images Groves was sending, according to court records. Soon after, Nashua Police began investigating the couple.

Laughton and Groves have a long-standing, volatile relationship. In 2022, Laughton was charged with harassing Groves and her family, which cost Laughton a seat in the state legislature. Laughton was arrested in November of that year for stalking Groves shortly after winning reelection to the House. Laughton was jailed for weeks until the House Democratic Caucus finally forced a resignation.

During the investigation of the stalking case, it was revealed that Laughton had called the police to report Groves was abusing children at the daycare. The accusation was dismissed as part of the ongoing harassment at that time.

According to the federal case documents, Laughton and Groves were reconciled after the stalking case was resolved without a jail sentence. Groves started sending the disturbing photos to Laughton, and the two had explicit conversations via text about the images and their own sexual desires. 

Laughton and Grove discussed raping the children at the daycare facility. In one chilling exchange, they strategized about 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 …”

In another exchange, Laughton appears to admit having raped a child with Groves

“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 Groves.

Laughton, born Barry Laughton, is a biological male who identifies as female. Laughton became New Hampshire’s first transgender elected official in 2012, and the first transgender elected official to be forced to resign.

Laughton was forced out weeks after the 2012 election after it was learned he was still on probation on a felony theft charge. Laughton has also been charged with stalking and making bomb threats. None of that prevented New Hampshire state Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley from praising Laughton as part of “the backbone of the Granite State” in 2022.

Laughton was married for many years to Lisa Laughton, the alleged co-conspirator in a 2008 fraud case that resulted in the felony conviction that temporarily derailed Laughton’s political career. Laughton has also conducted a long-term sexual relationship with Groves. Both Groves and Lisa Laughton are biological women. 

And, Hillsborough County officials confirm, Laughton is being housed with the jail’s male population.

Gov. Chris Sununu likes to tout his pro-business bona fides, but they aren’t stopping him from targeting the wildly popular social media platform TikTok with a lawsuit accusing the company of putting profits ahead of children.

“Our lawsuit alleges that TikTok has shamelessly exploited young users through deceptive design features that foster addiction and endanger mental health. We contend that TikTok knowingly deceived New Hampshire families with false assurances of safety while profiting from the vulnerabilities of its youngest users,” Sununu’s Attorney General John Formella said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, filed in Merrimack Superior Court.

The suit attacks TikTok for allegedly violating the state’s consumer protection statute and other laws.

According to the lawsuit, TikTok uses addictive features to exploit young users’ naivete and ongoing brain development and maximize the time they spend on the platform in the interest of profit. TikTok’s addictive design features make it hard for children to disengage from the platform and lead to a cycle of excessive use, the lawsuit states.

The complaint alleges the company knows excessive use results in profound harm to its young users, including depression, anxiety, and isolation from friends and family. As the company deployed those features, it also lied to parents about the platform’s safety, downplaying the risks posed while touting supposed safety measures that the company knows are ineffective. 

“New Hampshire puts our kids first,” Sununu said. “This lawsuit, combined with our earlier executive order investigating the harms of social media on New Hampshire’s youth is another wakeup call for parents on the dangers that social media presents to our kids.”

New Hampshire filed a similar lawsuit against Meta last year, the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. That lawsuit is currently pending.

“This action underscores our commitment to holding social media platforms accountable for their harmful actions to youth. We will vigorously pursue this case to ensure that TikTok is held responsible and that meaningful changes are made to protect our children’s well-being. This lawsuit is just the latest step in our ongoing efforts to ensure that platforms like TikTok operate responsibly and transparently in our state,” Formella said.

 The lawsuit contends TikTok knew it was deploying potentially harmful features on its platform, gathering data on children under 13, exploiting them for money, and even exposing them to online predators.

“New Hampshire’s children are spending increasingly alarming amounts of time on screens. In 2021, over 37 percent of New Hampshire high schoolers reported 5 hours or more of screen time on an average school day. The U.S. Surgeon General has warned that unchecked use of applications like TikTok has ‘a profound risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents,’” the lawsuit states.

As more of their hours are taken by TikTok, New Hampshire children are being exposed to child sex abuse images and videos, content that promotes self harm, extreme violent content, and even online social interactions with pedophiles, according to the lawsuit. All this despite assurance the company is doing everything it can to keep kids safe.

“TikTok has long been a haven to incredibly disturbing, gruesome videos, including beheadings, mass shootings, and videos of both suicide and eating disorders. TikTok also knows sexual predators use the App to solicit nude photographs and other photographs from/of children,” the lawsuit states.

Formella wants the Court to enter an injunction requiring substantive changes in how the company operates. He’s also seeking penalties and other monetary relief to address the harms that these practices have caused. 

The attorney general’s investigation of other social media platforms for related practices continues.

TikTok, the controversial social media giant is making billions by trapping New Hampshire kids in a psychologically harmful and potentially dangerous web of endless scrolling, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella.

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.