AUGUSTA — A city man was indicted Thursday on charges of aggravated assault in an attack that left a fellow inmate at the Kennebec County jail severely wounded as well as a separate charge of threatening a woman in Augusta.

Those indictments and a number of others were handed up by a grand jury in Kennebec County.

One aggravated assault charge alleges that Elijah L. Ashley, 21, caused “serious, permanent disfigurement or loss or substantial impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ” and carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. The other says that Ashley caused injury that “created a substantial risk of death” or required an “extended convalescence” and carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Both charges list Paul G. Gagnon, 48, of Augusta, as the victim of the Nov. 18, 2017, of the attack. Gagnon had been jailed Nov. 14, 2017, to serve a sentence for contempt for failing to pay child support.

Gagnon was discovered at 5:20 a.m. that day on the bottom bunk of his jail cell “injured badly, non-responsive and bleeding from the head,” wrote Detective John Bourque, of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office, in an affidavit filed with the court.

Ashley had been arrested Nov. 12, 2017, on a charge of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon after allegedly pointing a gun at people on Littlefield Street in Augusta.

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He had remained in jail in lieu of $750 cash bail. The separate indictment handed up Thursday charges Ashley with criminal threatening with a firearm on Nov. 12, 2017, in Augusta and lists one woman as the victim.

Bourque’s affidavit says corrections officers were in the cell with Ashley and Gagnon at 3:05 a.m. Nov. 18 to clear a clogged toilet, and that Gagnon was snoring loudly with a blanket over his head. Bourque said corrections officers indicated this was normal because of the bright night lights in the cellblocks.

Bourque said Ashley told officers he had been “sleeping on the floor when Gagnon asked him to kill him.”

Ashley said he refused and that Gagnon then repeatedly smashed his own head on the floor. Ashley told officers he cleaned up the blood with a T-shirt and washed it. Ashley was found wearing a T-shirt with Gagnon’s name on it.

Ashley remains held at the Kennebec County jail.

Gagnon has been released from the hospital and is home, according to his mother, Diane Gagnon, of Augusta. “We’ve been trying to get him brain injury rehabilitation,” Gagnon said Friday, adding that MaineCare has denied it, so the family is looking elsewhere for it.

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Here is a list of other people indicted Thursday:

• Joshua M. Almeida, 32, of Waterville, receiving stolen property and misuse of identification Oct. 31, 2017, in Waterville.

• James L. Beaulieu II, 33, of Waterville, two counts of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon (a piece of lumber) Oct. 29, 2017, each naming a separate victim. Beaulieu was arrested that night after allegedly assaulting a 14-year-old boy and his older brother after Beaulieu’s daughter apparently told him the two had pushed her into the Kennebec River.

• Karen M. Beaulieu, 44, of Oakland, theft by unauthorized taking Oct. 20, 2017, in Waterville.

• Joseph B. Berglund, 19, of West Gardiner, four counts of gross sexual assault, all Nov. 10-11, 2017, in West Gardiner. The charges list two female victims and say the women did not consent or were incapable of consenting.

• Kathy Cagle, 40, of Bronx, New York, aggravated trafficking in heroin Nov. 8, 2017, and unlawful trafficking of fentanyl Nov. 29, 2017, both in Waterville.

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• Dolly Carpenter, 50, of Waterville, aggravated trafficking in cocaine base Aug. 8, 2017, aggravated trafficking in cocaine base Sept. 12, 2017, and unlawful possession of cocaine base Jan. 3, 2018, all in Waterville.

• Antoan Cross, 39, of Waterbury, Connecticut, aggravated trafficking in heroin/fentanyl and aggravated trafficking in cocaine base, both July 12, 2017; two counts of aggravated trafficking in heroin; and criminal forfeiture of $1,585, all Nov. 7, 2017, and all in Farmingdale.

• Joseph Tyrone Davis, 38, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon — a wine bottle, and criminal trespass, both Nov. 24, 2017, in Augusta.

• Andre F. Fields, also know as Coop and Pops, 51, of Bronx, New York, two counts of aggravated trafficking in cocaine base, aggravated trafficking in heroin/fentanyl, and criminal forfeiture of $2,750, all Dec. 6, 2017, in Vassalboro.

• Joseph Edward Gray, 30, of Winslow, operating after revocation and failure to give correct name Sept. 12, 2017, in Clinton, and operating after revocation Sept. 20, 2017, in Waterville.

• Philip Edward Howard II, 31, of Fairfield, unlawful possession of oxycodone, unlawful possession of suboxone, unlawful possession of cocaine/cocaine base, unlawful possession of clonazepam, unlawful possession of Xanax, and criminal forfeiture of $149 cash, all Dec. 19, 2017, in Waterville.

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• Michael Wayne Jerrier, 47, of Waterville, arson Nov. 25, 2017, in Waterville. Investigators say he set fire to a mattress in his bedroom in a College Avenue apartment building.

• Patrick Edward LeBlanc Jr., 22, of Skowhegan, two counts of assault on an officer at the Kennebec County jail Sept. 9, 2017, in Augusta.

• Eddie P. Levigne, 29, of Vienna, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and domestic violence terrorizing, both Dec. 10, 2017 in Vienna. A separate indictment charged him with violation of a condition of release and violation of a protective order Dec. 18-20, 2017, in Augusta.

• James T. Lynch, 53, of Waterville, operating after revocation and theft by unauthorized taking Oct. 17, 2017, in Waterville.

• JP Moss, 37, of Waterville, domestic violence assault and criminal trespass Nov. 26, 2017, in Waterville.

• Kristina Torres, 36, of Manhattan, New York, aggravated trafficking in 112 grams or more of cocaine or 32 grams or more of cocaine base; aggravated trafficking of cocaine or cocaine base within $1,000 of a school or a safe zone; unlawful possession of more than 200 milligrams of heroin, and criminal forfeiture of $1,187 cash, all Nov. 26, 2017, in Winslow.

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• Marie Rose Towners, 38, of Waterville, theft by unauthorized taking Oct. 4, 2017, and theft by unauthorized taking June 5, 2017, both in Waterville.

• Jenny R. Wickett, 37, of Fairfield, two counts of theft by deception Nov. 2, 2017, in Waterville.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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