A Lewiston man was ordered held without bail Monday after police said he attacked an Auburn man with a hammer.

Jason Wotton, 31, appeared in 8th District Court on a charge of elevated aggravated assault, a Class A felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Judge Cynthia Montgomery set bail at $50,000 cash on the assault charge, but ordered Wotton held without bail pending a bail hearing set for Dec. 7. He had been free on bail in two other cases, including felony theft, when he was arrested Friday in connection with the attack in Auburn.

Police said in an affidavit that a witness called to report two men fighting early Friday morning at a home on Washington Street.

One of the men clutched the other man at the back of the neck and was beating his head into a tow truck, according to the affidavit, written by Auburn police Detective Marshall McCamish.

The witness said one of the men was using a hammer on the other man and that “the offending male was trying to take off the male’s pants prior to running away.”

The victim, 37-year-old Leon Hunt, was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston with severe head injuries and was listed in critical condition.

He was later airlifted to a Portland hospital where underwent emergency surgery. He was put on a breathing tube due to swelling in his brain.

Police tracked Wotton to his ex-girlfriend’s home on Main Street, where he was found hiding inside her apartment.

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