Day care worker accused of snapping photos of nearly naked children and sending them to trans-identifying former state rep. in New Hampshire

Warning: very disturbing content

A former day care worker who lives in New Hampshire but who worked in Massachusetts has been arrested and charged after she allegedly snapped photographs of children's exposed genitals and then sent those images to a former intimate partner.

Lindsay Groves, 38, of Hudson, New Hampshire, had been working at the Creative Minds Early Learning Center in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, when she allegedly committed heinous acts against children believed to be between the ages of 3 and 5. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the District of Massachusetts, Groves took advantage of "natural bathroom breaks for the children," including diaper or pull-up changes before naptime, to take pictures of children's genitals.

The criminal complaint indicates that Groves approached the victims while their pants and undergarments were pulled down. She allegedly asked the victims to pull their shirts over their faces to obscure their identities. She then took photographs of their nearly naked bodies. In at least one instance, she also "placed her left hand adjacent to" the penis of one of the victims, the complaint stated.

The victims include three boys and one girl. Groves first began capturing the images in May 2022, and the most recent images were captured earlier this month, reports said.

Child care worker from Hudson charged with possession of child sex abuse imageswww.youtube.com

Court documents further allege that Groves did not take the images for herself alone but instead took them at the behest of former Democratic New Hampshire state Representative Stacie Laughton, 39. Laughton, who was formerly known as Barry Charles Laughton Jr., is a biological male who claims to be transgender. Most media reports used female pronouns in reference to him.

Laughton has a lengthy criminal history as well as a tumultuous political career. He was first elected to the state legislature in 2012 and was reportedly the first "openly transgender" state lawmaker in the nation. However, he resigned his position before taking office when a previous felony conviction related to credit card fraud came to light.

Laughton then ran for the seat again in 2020 and won. He was then re-elected in 2022 but once again resigned his seat before he could be sworn in after he was arrested for allegedly stalking a woman. He was also charged in 2015 for allegedly calling a hospital to make a bomb threat.

Laughton and Groves were "in an intimate relationship" until June 16 of this year and exchanged about 2,500 text messages. During those exchanges, Groves reportedly sent Laughton the explicit images she had taken of children in her care. The former couple also discussed in graphic detail those explicit images, their own sexual intimacy, and the sexual intimacy they shared with other partners, the criminal complaint stated.

Groves was arrested and charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children and two counts of distribution of child pornography. At a hearing in federal court in Boston on Wednesday, Groves spoke only to say that she likely could not afford an attorney. The public defender at the hearing was then assigned to be her attorney.

Others at the hearing were much more vocal. One woman whose child attended the Creative Minds day care center where Groves worked yelled in open court that she wanted "to f***ing kill that b****." She also told Groves to "rot in jail." The woman and those with her were then removed from the gallery.

Another mother whose daughter attended the day care center spoke with reporters outside the courthouse. "I hope she gets the maximum, and I hope that every kid gets the justice that is deserved," said Rosemary Denommee. "As a concerned parent, we just all hope that she is just taken down." Parents said they learned about the alleged crimes just last week when law enforcement arrived at their homes, asking for their help identifying the victims.

Groves was remanded to custody in New Hampshire, though a clerk's note from the hearing said that "the state case is expected to be dismissed soon." She is scheduled to appear in federal court again on July 13.

Laughton, who lives in Derry, New Hampshire, was also arrested and charged with four counts of distribution of child sexual abuse images. He is scheduled to appear for arraignment in Hillsborough Superior Court-South in New Hampshire on Friday.

Creative Minds Early Learning Center did not respond to a request for comment from TheBlaze, but other media outlets have reported that the facility is closed and that its leaders have claimed to be cooperating fully with the investigation.

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