A 37-year-old Clinton man is being held in jail on $35,000 bail for continually violating court orders barring him from contacting a former girlfriend who he assaulted, according to court documents.

Ian C. Ellis appeared in Island County Superior Court last Friday after being arrested the previous day. Judge Vickie Churchill found probable cause existed to believe Ellis committed the crimes of assault in the second degree and violation of a no-contact order; both are domestic violence charges.

Deputy Prosecutor Michael Safstrom asked the judge to impose the relatively high amount of bail because of the numerous times Ellis has refused to abide by no-contact orders signed by judges. Churchill agreed, saying he represents a threat to the community.

Safstrom said he plans to ask that Ellis’ bail be revoked altogether when the prosecution files yet another felony domestic-violence charge against Ellis at a later date.

Deputies with the Island County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 hangup call at a Clinton residence on Jan. 9 and found Ellis in a car with the woman he was ordered not to contact.

The woman said they had been in the house earlier and Ellis assaulted her. Children came into the room and stopped the assault, a deputy’s report states. The woman said she hit Ellis in the head several times with a stick to protect herself.

Ellis told deputies that the woman kidnapped him at gunpoint the night before, the deputy’s report states.

In a case in September, prosecutors charged Ellis with felony violation of a court order for possession of methamphetamine.

In that case, deputies found Ellis in the same house with the same woman, in violation of a no-contact order. He was accused of choking her; a deputy found a bag of suspected meth on him, court documents state.