PORTLAND — A South Carolina man pleaded not guilty in federal court Tuesday to a charge of kidnapping a woman who said she was repeatedly raped and beaten on a trip from that state to Lewiston in July.

A goateed Dustin Beach, 25, appeared in U.S. District Court clad in a jumpsuit, his ankles shackled, his hands cuffed to a chain around his belly. He faces up to life in prison on the Class A felony charge.

Beach’s attorney, Portland lawyer David Beneman, told Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III that his client waived his right to a bail hearing because of an active warrant for Beach’s arrest from South Carolina.

Federal investigators said Beach is facing similar kidnapping charges in South Carolina, plus drug and gun charges. His arrest stemmed from a report that he had assaulted a girlfriend with a bull whip, a stick, a shotgun and a pistol over two days in February. She said he had taken her cellphone to prevent her from seeking help.

Beach reportedly cut off a GPS monitor after being released on bail.

Investigators wrote in court papers that, in the Maine case, Beach forced a woman to stay in his pickup truck after offering her a ride to Walmart in South Carolina, then told her he couldn’t release her because he was wanted.

The woman told investigators that Beach smashed her cellphone and raped and beat her along the trip to Maine.

At one point, she said, he held her face under water until she passed out. He hit her at various times with a cane, a hammer, the center console of his truck and his fists, feet and elbow.

She said she repeatedly pleaded to be released, but Beach refused and threatened to kill her children and  her.

Lewiston police were dispatched shortly after 2:30 a.m. July 25 to the Super 8 Motel on Lisbon Street for a report of a woman who’d been hit with a hammer.

Police saw the woman sitting in the lobby wearing large, dark sunglasses. Police could see bruises on her throat and chest. She asked police if they could take her from the motel before her assailant returned.

When later interviewed by police, Beach said he had asked the woman if she wanted to go to Maine and she accepted his invitation to take her. He said he had been trying to help her leave the house she had lived in and that he was trying to help her.

Beach told police the woman’s injuries predated his contacts with her. He said they had consensual sex.

Evidence found in Beach’s truck included items the woman told police they would find, including her smashed cellphone, a black-handled hammer, a cane and a shirt she claimed she had worn that was stained with her blood.

Beach was indicted by a federal grand jury on the kidnapping charge last week.

A December trial is scheduled.

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