Portsmouth man indicted in Planet Fitness attack

Jordan Lamonde (Rochester Police photo)

DOVER - The man accused in the notorious beating of a woman in the Rochester Planet Fitness parking lot in June has been indicted by a Strafford County grand jury.

Jordan C. Lamonde, 23, of 900 Woodbury Ave., Portsmouth, was arrested on July 24 after a six-week investigation by Rochester Police.

His indictment is on a single felony count of second degree assault, punishable by three and a half to seven years in state prison.

The arrest was the result of a widely publicized and horrific beating on June 12 in which it is alleged Lamonde got out of his car, came up behind a young woman walking to her car after finishing her shift at Planet Fitness and began beating her in the head. As she fell to the ground, he kneed her in the head and torso in a beatdown that lasted a couple of minutes, according to police.

Rochester Police responded to the gym around 10 p.m. for a report that a woman had been assaulted.
Upon arrival, officers found an 18-year-old female who told police that she was walking out to her car when she was attacked from behind by an unknown man.
Police first reported the incident to the public on June 19 after reviewing high-resolution surveillance video that clearly showed the entirety of the attack, during which the victim was struck nearly 40 times as well as being thrown to the ground and kneed in the head.
They released the first few seconds of the video on the department's Facebook Page, prompting a storm of outrage and theories about who the attacker might be.
The victim also took to social media in the following days expressing her feelings about the attack and later asking people to stop calling her with tips about her attacker's identity. At one point she begged the public to leave her alone and call the police with any tips.
Despite the severity of the beating, she received only minor injuries, mostly bumps and bruises, which she showed on her Facebook page.
After a couple of weeks of investigating police developed a suspect in the case and executed several search warrants.

The Strafford County grand jury indictments were handed down on Oct. 19 and released today.

An indictment is not an indication of guilt, rather that enough evidence has been gathered to warrant a trial.