CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Police said a New Hampshire man was parked outside a fitness club for nearly eight hours before attacking a woman as she got off work there — punching her 39 times — after accusing her boyfriend of stealing thousands of dollars from him, according to court documents released Tuesday.
Jordan Lamonde, 22, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, pleaded not guilty in Dover to a second-degree assault charge in connection with the June 12 nighttime attack on the 18-year-old woman outside a Planet Fitness gym in Rochester. He was jailed on $150,000 bail, but was awaiting transition to a supervised county corrections program.
Police arrested Lamonde on Monday after he had been released from a Portsmouth hospital; it wasn’t known why he was hospitalized or how long he had been there. Police and his lawyer declined to comment.
Police said video shows a car entering the Planet Fitness parking lot around 2:20 p.m. on June 12. It pulls into several spots throughout the day, getting closer to the woman’s car.
Around 10 p.m., the video shows a man getting out of the car, approaching the woman from behind, and then hitting her as she is about to get into her car. Police said the woman received serious, but not life-threatening injuries. Part of the video was released to the public, and police followed a tip that eventually led them to Lamonde.
Rochester Police Chief Paul Toussaint called it a “vicious, unprovoked attack that has shocked our community.”
The woman who was hit told police she dated a man who later told investigators he used to be good friends with Lamonde. The man said Lamonde accused him of stealing a safe that contained thousands of dollars. He said he has not spoken to Lamonde since.
Lamonde later denied knowing the man, or ever being in Rochester.
Detectives said the vehicle belonged to Lamonde, and that it was registered in his grandmother’s name.
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