WORCESTER, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – A Massachusetts man has been indicted in connection with the death of a child.

Laura French, spokesperson for the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office, said 35-year-old Steven Stuart of Auburn was indicted by a grand jury on a murder charge. The charge stems from the 2017 death of seven-year-old Jayden Carlson.

Stuart was convicted in September 2015 on a charge of assault and batter on a child causing serious bodily injury in connection with an August 2012 incident involving Carlson, who was two years old at the time. Stuart was sentenced to six to eight years in state prison for that conviction.

French added that Carlson suffered serious, “life-altering injuries and subsequently experienced ongoing medical complications” following the 2012 incident. Carlson died in December 2017 as a result of those injuries.

Stuart has been arraigned on the indictment and is being held without bail. His next court date is scheduled for July 20.

A former New Hampshire state representative was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison for involvement in a child exploitation case — almost double the mandatory minimum.

Stacie Marie Laughton, 42, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of children after soliciting and receiving nude photos of three toddlers from an ex-girlfriend who worked at a daycare.

Lindsay Groves, 41, of Hudson, N.H., was sentenced to almost 22 years in prison earlier this month after pleading guilty to the same charges as well as an additional count of distribution of child pornography.

According to court documents, Groves took the photos of the victims in 2023 at Creative Minds daycare in Tyngsboro, where she was a teacher, during designated bathroom breaks and nap times.

She then sent the photos to Laughton, who requested the images and asked that Grove touch one of the minor’s genitals. In the conversation included in the records, the pair sexualizes the victims.

“Did the girl give you an issue,” Laughton texted after receiving the photos.

“No… the boy didn’t either,” Groves texted back.

In a sentencing memorandum, Laughton’s counsel had argued that she should receive a shorter sentence than Groves and asked for the minimum mandatory sentence, which would have 15 years for each count to be served concurrently.

“Stacie Laughton is a complex 42-year-old woman,” the memo said, noting that she was the first openly transgender woman to be elected to the New Hampshire legislature.

The filing described Laughton’s history of mental health, substance abuse, sexual abuse, and trauma as mitigating factors the judge should consider.

“One of the few consistencies in Ms. Laughton’s life is her challenges with mental health illnesses,” the memo said. “She began receiving mental health treatment at the age of four and has been in and out of extensive treatment programs ever since.”

The death of Laughton’s wife in 2020 and a tumultuous relationship with Groves also added to her mental health struggles, the memo said, stating that the defendant drank every day and had tried heroin for the first time leading up to her arrest.

A doctor quoted in the filing said that Laughton likely had a low IQ, tied in part to her premature birth, as well as “normal sexual interests.”

“This finding shows both how caught up Ms. Laughton was in her relationship with Groves that she participated in activity counter to this and is … an important factor in considering whether Ms. Laughton would be a future threat upon release,” the memo said.

The filing described Laughton’s actions as “horrendous, reprehensible, and shocking,” but said that even though the crimes were “utterly inexcusable,” she should still receive a shorter sentence than her codefendant out of a sense of justice.

However, in their own sentencing memo, federal prosecutors requested Laughton receive 40 years in prison.

“These crimes only came to light when Laughton reported them in an apparent attempt to punish Groves for ending their relationship,” prosecutors wrote. “The defendant, of course, did not disclose her own role in the creation of the imagery.”

“She ultimately admitted that she told Groves to touch one child’s penis, and claimed that she was feeding Groves’s attraction to children,” their memo said.

The prosecutors said that Laughton’s voice was the “more prominent one” in the conversation about exploiting children.