AUBURN — Prosecutors said Thursday that a Massachusetts man charged with stabbing a man three times ambushed him.

Corey Hayden, 30, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, who recently lived at 12 Brann Ave. in Lewiston, appeared in Androscoggin County Superior Court where a judge set bail at $100,000 cash.

Hayden was charged with elevated aggravated assault, a Class A felony, punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Dumas said Hayden had gotten the jump on Frederick Williams 40, of 9 James St. shortly before midnight on Monday.

Williams was stabbed three times, including his left shoulder blade and close to his rib cage. He was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston where he was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday.

According to a police affidavit, Hayden had been dating the mother of Williams’ children. During that time Williams had been dating a different woman, who called 911 on Monday night to report the stabbing.

A mutual friend had called, then dropped by, the James Street house where Williams and his girlfriend were living. That woman, who was homeless, asked the couple whether she could stay with them that night; they said she could.

When that woman arrived at their home on James Street and parked in front of it, she asked Williams to retrieve something from the trunk of her car. When Williams went to the rear of her car, “Hayden moved his hood back further off his head and told Williams he was going to kill him,” Auburn Police Detective Nicholas Gagnon wrote in his affidavit. “At that point, Williams turned sideways to block any punches as he knew Hayden was going to fight him.”

Williams told Gagnon that “Hayden began striking (him), but Williams didn’t see a knife. Once he was hit, he felt a burn and knew he was being stabbed. Williams ran to the parking lot, yelling that he was stabbed.”

Hayden and the homeless woman who had directed Williams to the trunk of her car climbed into it before it sped away, Gagnon wrote.

Williams told Gagnon that Hayden had “severely beaten” his girlfriend who was the mother of Williams’ children. Williams had helped her through the aftermath and Hayden hadn’t liked that, Williams told Gagnon.

Hayden’s girlfriend had cleared his apartment of his belongings, including $8,000 in cash plus roughly one ounce of cocaine, Williams told Gagnon, who included those details in his affidavit.

She also “dug up” Hayden’s “huge amount” of drugs and came to Williams with them, according to Gagnon’s affidavit.

Hayden had been on probation for robbery and could be searched for drugs and alcohol, according to Gagnon.

He went to the address where Hayden had been living. Parked in the driveway was a dark blue sedan matching the description of the car in which Hayden and the homeless woman had sped from the scene of Williams’ stabbing. The car had Massachusetts license plates.

Footprints in the snow showed a trail to the second floor apartment at the back of the building, Gagnon wrote. A knock on the door was answered by Hayden. Gagnon had officers secure Hayden while he cleared the apartment. A teenager was in Hayden’s bed, Gagnon wrote.

The teen told Gagnon she had been driving the car that was at the scene of the stabbing. She had been aware of the knife and that it had belonged to her father, she told him.

She told Gagnon Hayden was mad at Williams because of something having to do with “trashing” Hayden’s apartment.

In setting Hayden’s bail Thursday, Active-Retired Justice Robert Clifford barred him from having any contact with Williams, the homeless woman, the teenager and Williams’ girlfriend. Clifford prohibited Hayden from having any dangerous weapons for which he could be searched at random.

Defense Attorney George Hess said he reserved the right to argue for different bail terms at a later date.

cwilliams@sunjournal.com