AUBURN — A jail inmate who escaped last month and stole an SUV before he was caught was indicted Tuesday on drug charges, which was the reason he had been behind bars.

David Mockler Androscoggin County Jail photo

An Androscoggin County grand jury handed up a charge of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs against David R. Mockler, 23, of Lisbon. The felony is punishable by four to 30 years in prison.

Mockler also was charged with felony unlawful possession of scheduled drugs, a crime that carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

He had been scheduled for a hearing Tuesday to determine whether his bail on the drugs charges should be revoked, but that hearing was continued to next month.

Until then, Mockler remains at the Maine State Prison in Warren because that facility has an infirmary that can treat injuries Mockler sustained when he jumped from the roof of the Androscoggin County Jail on the morning of May 23 during recreation period, according to a corrections officer.

Mockler climbed a fence, squeezed through two rows of razor wire and jumped about 25 feet off a roof, likely fracturing both feet, according to a police report. His jail pants and underwear became tangled in the wire, where they were left during his escape. He stole an SUV parked nearby and was involved in a crash not far from the jail.

Deputies from the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office and Auburn Police Department pursued Mockler, who continued to drive in the damaged SUV to Mechanic Falls, where police there attempted to stop him during a slow-speed chase due to a flattened front tire on the SUV, according to a police report.

He turned the stolen vehicle into a private driveway of a former girlfriend where the SUV crashed again and he was taken into custody.

Mockler appeared in 8th District Court in Lewiston from a hospital bed via videoconference days after the incident.

A judge ordered he be held without bail until his bail revocation hearing.

On new charges stemming from his jail escape, the judge ordered cash bail of $250,000.

Those charges include escape, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Mockler also faces misdemeanor charges of unauthorized use of property and violation of condition of release.

In the police report, a detective wrote that Mockler had sought to recruit his apparent current girlfriend as getaway driver after his escape, but she refused.