A convicted child rapist is accused of attacking a woman inside the women’s locker room of a Massachusetts Planet Fitness and then sexually assaulting a female employee who tried to stop him, Fox News reports.
Laquan Holland, 40, allegedly beat the woman, tried to strip off her clothing and blocked her escape inside the Porter Square gym in Cambridge on the morning of Oct. 1, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office. He was ordered held without bail after his arraignment on two counts of assault to rape, two counts of indecent assault and battery, kidnapping and witness intimidation.
Prosecutors said Holland, a member of the gym, arrived around 9 a.m. with a woman he knew after offering to let her use the showers. Once they were inside, he allegedly began hitting her. The woman fled into the women’s locker room and shower area, but Holland followed, continuing to hit her and touch her inappropriately while trying to remove her clothing and preventing her from leaving, the DA’s office said.
A female employee then entered the shower area and tried to pull Holland off the woman. Prosecutors say he sexually assaulted her, too. When police arrived, they found Holland still in the women’s locker room, trying to put his clothes back on.
Holland’s record goes back two decades. In 2006, he pleaded guilty to two counts of child rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, Boston.com reported, citing court records. The DA’s office said Holland, who is homeless and was known to stay in Cambridge and Boston, must complete sex offender registration and verification requirements every 30 days.
The attack came just weeks after a charge accusing Holland of failing to register as a sex offender was dismissed. Cambridge police arrested him on Aug. 25 for failing to register, a subsequent offense, according to police records reviewed by Fox News Digital. Prosecutors said he showed up at Cambridge police headquarters to register that day but was arrested because he was late. The charge was later dismissed on the condition that he register, which he completed on Aug. 27.
Five weeks later, prosecutors say, he was inside the women’s locker room at Planet Fitness.
A not guilty plea was entered on Holland’s behalf, NBC10 Boston reported. A dangerousness hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16, which will determine whether he stays behind bars while the case moves forward.
Planet Fitness told Fox News Digital that the franchise operator has canceled Holland’s membership and is cooperating with investigators.
“Planet Fitness is committed to providing a safe environment for all. The franchise group has cancelled the membership of the individual involved and is working with local law enforcement to support their investigation into this matter,” the company said.