LEWISTON — A local man denied Wednesday that he injured young children at his home last summer.

Laquavius Hudson, 20, of 50 Fairmount St. pleaded not guilty in 8th District Court to three felony charges of assault on a child younger than 6 years old and three misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child.

Each felony is punishable by up to five years in prison; each misdemeanor charge, 364 days in jail.

A judge set bail for Hudson, who was in custody of Androscoggin County Jail, at $10,000 cash.

He was ordered to have no contact with four household children, ages 5 months, and 2, 4 and 5 years.

In April, Hudson’s girlfriend, Raven Sullivan, 21, was indicted on a charge of failing to intervene in the abuse of her three children that police said left them with broken bones and other wounds.

According to court documents, Lewiston police began investigating Nov. 15, 2016, when Sullivan took her 4-year-old daughter to St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center with a broken left arm. X-rays taken at the hospital revealed prior fractures of the same arm that were still healing, according to a court affidavit.

Medical officials at St. Mary’s referred the case to the Department of Health and Human Services, which ordered that the other two children be examined, as well.

On Nov. 17, all three children were examined at Spurwink Services in Portland.

According to a court affidavit written by Lewiston Police Detective William Brochu: “Healing fractures of varying ages were discovered for each child. The reports concluded that Sullivan should have, at a minimum, known that her children were being injured. The skeletal injuries would have been painful. The reports indicate that Sullivan failed to protect her children from the ongoing abuse.”

As they investigated, police reviewed statements from a woman who had lived with Hudson and Sullivan at Pleasant View Acres when the couple first moved back to Maine in July.

“She claimed that the children were being abused by Hudson while Sullivan was at work,” according to the affidavit.

The woman told investigators that the 4- and 5-year-old children had told her that Hudson frequently stepped on their backs, causing them pain and fractured ribs.

The former roommate told investigators that she often would hear noises and banging from a bedroom occupied by Hudson and the three children. She also told police that she would see the three children “busted up,” with fat lips and marks on their faces.

The police affidavit lists the children’s injuries found during the examination at Spurwink. They include six healing rib fractures on the 4-year-old, as well as multiple fractures of the arms and a skin injury from being struck by a looped cord, according to the affidavit.

On the 18-month-old, according to the report, medical officials found seven rib fractures, as well as healing fractures of bones in the arms, shoulders and legs. The 5-year-old was found to have four healing rib fractures, according to the affidavit.

Hudson’s next court date is scheduled for October.

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