In June 2026, a federal judge in Boston sentenced a former day care worker and her co-defendant to long prison terms for sexually exploiting young children at a day care center in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. Both women had pleaded guilty. The case is a rare example of a day care abuse matter that ended in federal convictions, and it shows how both criminal and civil law can apply after abuse in child care.
What the court record shows
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Lindsay Groves worked at a day care center in Tyngsborough. Prosecutors said that between May 2022 and June 2023, she took sexually exploitative photos of children in her care and sent them to Stacie Marie Laughton, a former New Hampshire state representative with whom she had been in a relationship.
Prosecutors said the children were toddlers, and some could not yet speak fully. The office said all of the children have been identified and law enforcement has contacted their families. We are not sharing further details, to protect the children and their families.
Groves was arrested in June 2023 and Laughton in July 2023. A federal grand jury indicted both of them on July 27, 2023. The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations and the Nashua, New Hampshire, police department.
The pleas and sentences
Both women pleaded guilty in fall 2025. The court docket shows a plea agreement for Groves filed in October 2025 and a plea hearing for Laughton on November 3, 2025. Each admitted three counts of sexual exploitation of children. Groves also pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child sexual abuse material.
- Lindsay Groves was sentenced on June 2, 2026, to 262 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
- Stacie Marie Laughton was sentenced on June 18, 2026, to 400 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
- Senior U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV imposed both sentences.
The docket shows that Groves filed a notice of appeal on June 5, 2026. The appeal is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit as case number 26-1677. We will update this article if the appeal changes the outcome.
A criminal case is not the only path
A criminal case is brought by the government. Its goal is to decide guilt and punishment. It does not, by itself, pay for a child’s counseling or other needs. A civil case is different. It is brought by the survivor or the family and asks for money damages.
Federal law gives one civil option in cases like this. Under 18 U.S.C. 2255, a person who was a minor when harmed by certain federal child exploitation crimes may sue in federal court. The statute says there is no time limit for filing under that section. A lawyer can explain whether it fits a particular case.
State law may also allow claims against a child care program or its owners. These can include claims that a program failed to screen, train or supervise staff. Such claims depend on the facts, the state’s law and what the program knew or should have known. A criminal conviction of a worker does not mean the program is automatically responsible.
What families can take from this case
Abuse in child care is often found late, and sometimes by accident. Many young survivors cannot tell anyone what happened.
In this case, prosecutors described a forensic review of the defendants’ phones. That is a reminder that records matter. Staffing logs, policies, inspection reports and digital records can all become important later.
You can read more on our day care sexual abuse page, or visit our sexual assault and abuse overview for other settings.
If your family was affected by abuse in a child care setting, support is available, and you can move at your own pace. Deadlines for civil claims vary by state and can depend on the child’s age and who the claim is against. A lawyer can review the specific facts with you.
This article is general information about how these cases work. It is not legal advice, it does not create an attorney-client relationship, and no two claims are alike. If something here sounds like your situation, the useful next step is a conversation about the facts.
