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BURLINGTON — City police have arrested a suspect in the Monday morning assault at the Cherry Street bus station.

William Schenk, 25, was taken into custody just before 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night. Police “tracked the suspect and were able to convince him to surrender peacefully” at the police station.

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Schenk pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a felony charge of aggravated assault and violation of conditions of release for having contact with a woman he had been ordered to not contact following the violation of an abuse prevention order.

He faces up to 15 years in prison on the aggravated assault charge and six months for violating the conditions of release.

Police say Schenk assaulted a 33-year-old man at the Downtown Transit Center on Cherry Street. Schenk knew the victim and hit him with an object believed to be a small glass pipe, police said.

According to text messages Schenk sent the woman, Schenk believed the woman was involved with the victim. This lead Schenk to attack the man, according to the affidavit in the case.

The victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

Schenk was arrested in 2015 for targeting two women of color by leaving KKK recruitment fliers at their apartments. He pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct enhanced by a hate crime penalty, but his conviction was overturned by the Vermont Supreme Court.

Schenk is being held without bail at the Northwest State Correctional Facility pending a bail hearing set for Aug. 26.

Editor’s note: This story was update at 1:52 p.m. Thursday to include information about the suspect’s bail hearing.

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