Former New Hampshire state representative Stacie Marie Laughton (D), the nation’s first openly transgender person elected to a state legislature, was arrested Thursday on charges of distributing child pornography through the spread of sexual abuse images focused on children.
According to a statement from the Nashua police, they had responded “to a local facility for a juvenile matter” and discovered that Laughton had allegedly disseminated “sexually explicit images of children.”
Laughton, who was charged with four counts of distribution of child sexual abuse images, faces serious felony charges that could result in a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years. Police have not provided further details on the matter.
Laughton’s political career has been marked with controversy. After achieving historical significance in 2012 as the first openly transgender person to win a state legislature seat, it was later revealed that Laughton had a prior conviction for conspiracy to commit credit card fraud. This led to Laughton’s resignation before officially taking office. However, Laughton made a political comeback in 2020 and won another term.
In the most recent turn of events, Laughton was absent from the swearing-in ceremony due to being jailed on stalking accusations. Facing pressure from state Democratic leaders, Laughton again resigned before Christmas. After resigning, Laughton stated, “As of today, I’m no longer a state representative, which is very disappointing, but I’m going to come back to it… In two years, the next state election, I will run for state representative again.”
Notably, Laughton’s criminal record extends beyond these recent charges and includes arrests for stalking, making a false bomb threat to a hospital, and allegedly sending false emergency messages to a 911 dispatch center.
