Updated: Judge OKs injunctive relief in fraud case

Jason Cole (Lebanon Voice file photo)

PORTLAND, Maine - A federal judge has granted Planet Fitness a 14-day temporary restraining order forbidding former payroll manager Jason Cole from disseminating information the company alleges he fraudulently obtained while in its employ.

Monday night's ruling came after Pla-Fit Franchise, LLC, the owner of Planet Fitness, filed a lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court in Portland asking the court to grant the injunction earlier in the day.

The former Lebanon selectman and assistant rescue chief was fired from his job on Monday, and Planet Fitness officials feared he would disseminate the information as retribution.

The lawsuit claims that he may have stolen employees' personal and financial information by downloading it to his personal computer and to one belonging to Laura Shaw, a woman the lawsuit identifies as someone who resides with Cole at 323 Depot Road in Lebanon.

The lawsuit notes that the employee information stolen was of a "highly sensitive" nature.

Planet Fitness is based in Newington, N.H., and recently made headlines both for having an initial public offering of stock and for pressuring state officials to give it a tax break or possibly move its headquarters to another state.

"Given that Cole has a history of threatening and unstable behavior, there is an exceptionally high risk that Cole will do something drastic with this information after he learns of his termination from Planet Fitness on August 10, 2015," Pla-Fit Franchise said in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says Cole threatened to use inside information he received inadvertently to interfere with the company's IPO and charges him with breach of contract, converting the company's personal and financial payroll information for his personal use, and of computer fraud.

Specifically, the lawsuit accuses Cole of getting an email by mistake on June 3 that was supposed to be sent to a company attorney who has the same name.

Rather than delete the email as instructed by the company's human resources director, Cole downloaded it to his home computer and kept a copy, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit claims Cole's actions have already cost the company in excess of $5,000 and that it will "continue to suffer irreparable harm and monetary damages" due to his actions.

The lawsuit asks the court, among other things, to "permanently enjoin Cole and Shaw from using or disseminating Planet Fitness' confidential information" and to return all company property.

A woman who answered Cole's cellphone number said he no longer was associated with the number.