A New Hampshire woman who works at a day care center in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, was arrested Thursday morning on charges of child exploitation and child pornography.
Lindsay Groves, 38, of Hudson, NH, was charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of distribution of child pornography. Groves, who is currently in custody, will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
According to charging documents, Groves worked at the Creative Minds daycare center located in Tyngsborough, Massachusetts. It is alleged that between May 2022 and June 2023, Groves took pictures of naked children at the day care center and sent the photos to a person with whom he was previously in an intimate relationship.
Authorities said Groves allegedly used the children’s bathroom breaks, such as changing diapers and clothing, to take multiple photos of the pre-teen children in a private bathroom and then texted the photos to the person.
Parents received an email stating that the daycare would be closed due to unforeseen circumstances, without specifying that one of their employees had been arrested.
A mother, whose identity we are withholding, says she was notified by the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday about the abuse.
“We found child pornography on the teacher’s assistant’s phone and we believe your son is in the photos,” the mother said.
Authorities showed her a series of photos of her son in the bathroom, “he had his pants around his ankles, in one of the photos, she had her hands on the child’s genitals,” said the mother of the affected child.
More than 2,500 text messages had been sent between Groves and the individual, according to a preliminary forensic review.
These messages allegedly included discussions and uploads of explicit photos Groves had taken of children while working at Creative Minds, including at least four sexually explicit images of children who appear to be between three and five years old.
Members of the public with information about this case are asked to call 617-748-3274.
