AUGUSTA — A city man is charged with attacking a 4-year-old girl, who was left with a swollen, blackened eye and marks on her neck, police said.
Brent Ryan Lavallee, 28, was arrested Friday and held without bail on the felony assault charge. He also is charged with violating conditions of release.
On Tuesday, a judge in Kennebec County Superior Court set bail for Lavallee at $5,000 cash or $50,000 worth of property.
He is accused of striking the girl in their home and of holding a blanket to her neck so tightly that it left marks, according to an affidavit by Augusta Police Detective Tori Tracy filed in Kennebec County Superior Court.
Augusta police said the girl’s grandfather noticed the injuries Friday morning and notified them.
The girl’s mother told police she had left the children in Lavallee’s care from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday, and found the girl inside the apartment crying when she returned.
Two other children were outside playing, she told police.
The mother told police she believed something had occurred involving Lavallee, and she asked him to leave, which he did. The mother told police Lavallee returned at 3 a.m. Friday, but she refused to let him into the apartment.
Tracy’s affidavit said the child told police that Lavallee dragged her up the stairs, hit her with his fist and threatened to kill her if she didn’t go to sleep. The girl also said Lavallee held a blanket to the front of her neck because she was crying, according to the affidavit.
The mother took the girl for an evaluation at the emergency room at MaineGeneral Medical Center after police talked to her, according to Tracy.
Records show Lavallee is on probation after being convicted Jan. 3 of felony operating under the influence among other crimes.
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