At approximately 9 a.m. on October 1, police in Cambridge, Massachusetts responded to a call at the Planet Fitness in Porter Square. Inside the women's locker room, they found 40-year-old Laquan Holland trying to put his clothes back on. Two women had just been sexually assaulted.
Holland pleaded guilty in 2006 to two counts of child rape and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14.
That's the man Planet Fitness welcomed into the women's locker room. Not because of an oversight. Not because of a security lapse. Because of a policy. The gym chain's official rule states that "all members may use the locker rooms, bathrooms, showers, and any other facilities/programs based on their self-reported gender identity." A registered child sex offender walked through a door that corporate policy propped open, and two women paid the price.
According to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, Holland sexually assaulted a woman inside the locker room and shower area, beat her, tried to strip off her clothing, and blocked her escape. When a female Planet Fitness employee intervened to help the first victim, Holland allegedly sexually assaulted her too.
Holland now faces two counts of assault to rape, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, one count of kidnapping, and one count of witness intimidation. A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf. He was ordered held without bail, with a dangerousness hearing scheduled for October 16.
Here's what makes the timeline worse. On August 25, 2026 — five weeks before this attack — Holland was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender. He's homeless, known to stay in the Cambridge and Boston area, and is required to register and verify his status every 30 days. Even more astounding is that Cambridge officials DISMISSED dismissed Holland's charges on the condition that he register. Five weeks later, he was inside a women's locker room.
Planet Fitness responded by cancelling Holland's membership. "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. Cancelled his membership. The way you'd handle someone who forgot to wipe down a bench.
The Porter Square location sits in a building owned by Lesley University, which clarified that no students or staff were involved. Small comfort for the two women who were.
This isn't even an isolated incident under Planet Fitness's policy. In September 2023, a man named JaKorbie Dixon accessed the women's locker room at a Georgia location. Staff told a concerned woman he "had every right to be in there." In May 2026, registered sex offender Christopher Beaulieu was involved in a locker room incident at a New Hampshire Planet Fitness. The pattern is not subtle. The policy creates access. Predators use it.
The gym chain has built its entire brand around being a "judgment-free zone." That phrase is on the walls, in the ads, woven into every piece of marketing they produce. What it means in practice is that a corporation decided the feelings of anyone who self-identifies into a space matter more than the physical safety of the women already in it. Not a hypothetical risk. Not a slippery-slope argument. A convicted child rapist, in the women's locker room, assaulting women, while the policy that let him in remained proudly posted on the company website.
Holland is being held without bail. The dangerousness hearing is October 16. The Planet Fitness policy, as of this writing, has not changed.