A judge ruled Wednesday that a woman accused of taking child sex abuse images at a Massachusetts day care where she worked and sending them to her former partner should be held in federal custody pending trial.
The decision reversed a magistrate's ruling in August that would have allowed Lindsay Groves to await trial at her parents' home in New Hampshire while under GPS monitoring, with no access to electronic devices.
"The Court respectfully disagrees with that determination," U.S. District Court Judge Dennis Saylor wrote in his ruling. "Although defendant's parents live in the home, their presence did nothing to prevent her conduct during the period at issue in this case, which she managed to conceal from them without apparent difficulty. It is likely that one or both parents would be absent periodically for shopping, errands, medical appointments, religious services, and other undertakings of ordinary life. Furthermore, the home is in a residential neighborhood setting, and it is highly likely that there are children residing within a relatively short distance."
That risk would be "considerably exacerbated," Saylor said, by the exception to confinement permitting Groves to be employed, including travel to and from work. "She would be completely unsupervised during any commuting period, and unsupervised at her place of work for stretches of time under almost any employment scenario," he said.
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He added that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to prevent Groves' access to electronic devices or the internet.
"In short, and under the circumstances, the Court is not convinced that there is a condition or combination of conditions of release that would reasonably assure the safety of other persons in the community, particularly minor children," Saylor said. "While it certainly understands the reasoning behind the release decision of the magistrate judge, in the Court’s view the statute and evidentiary record compel a different conclusion."
Groves, 38, of Hudson, New Hampshire, is accused of taking sexually explicit photos of children in her care over two months at Creative Minds Early Learning Center in Tyngsborough from May to June of 2022. Federal prosecutors allege that Groves and Stacie Marie Laughton, who were once in a relationship, sent thousands of text messages, including and discussing the sexually explicit photos.
Groves and Laughton, a former New Hampshire state representative previously charged in a stalking case, both face state charges in the case as well.
Laughton's mother previously spoke with NBC10 Boston and said that her daughter had done nothing wrong and did not ask for any photos to be sent to her.
Attorneys for Creative Minds Early Education previously issued a statement to NBC10 Boston saying they are cooperating fully with law enforcement "to ensure a complete and extensive investigation" into the allegations.
A family of one of the alleged victims has filed a lawsuit against the day care, claiming negligence.
