PARIS — Two men accused of starting a fight with a Rumford man over unpaid drug money and then hitting him in the head with a bat have pleaded not guilty to felony assault charges. 

Rumford resident James Calder, 30, and Corey Mayer, 27, of West Paris, entered denials to charges of aggravated assault at their arraignment in Oxford County Superior Court on Thursday morning.

Mayer has been charged with a Class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. His case has been joined with Calder’s, who was charged with a more severe Class A felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison, because he had a prior domestic violence assault conviction in 8th District Court in Lewiston.  

According to a Rumford police affidavit, on March 12, Mayer urged co-conspirator Calder to go looking for the victim, who allegedly owed them drug money from a marijuana purchase. 

After spotting the man on Waldo Street, Mayer confronted him in the road and, after an argument, initiated the assault, according to police statements from the victim and a witness. 

During the incident, both the victim and Mayer said Calder picked up a baseball bat and struck the victim in the head, according to the statements. The victim was hospitalized with a large gash to the forehead but later released. 

Calder has denied using the bat, saying he struck the victim with his fist and then fled the scene.

A witness watching the scene unfold from an apartment overlooking the street told police that Calder either struck the victim in the head with the bat or held the bat at the time of the incident, according to the affidavit. 

The same witness also told police they saw Calder return to the vehicle afterward and that Calder, who is black, shouted he had been enraged by the use of a racial slur. 

ccrosby@sunmediagroup.net