LIBERTY — A Niles man pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday after being arrested on charges of assault and aggravated menacing by Liberty police at a hotel Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Iluonokhalumhe, 38, was charged with assault and aggravated menacing by Liberty police.

According to the police report, two officers were dispatched to the Baymont Quality Inn in response to an employee who was attacked in the face by a patron. While en route, the officers were told that the suspect left in an unknown direction in a Kia bearing a Massachusetts registration.

The employee, holding his left cheek, explained to officers that Iluonokhalumhe, the patron, had been staying at the inn for the past four months. The employee told Iluonokhalumhe that he needed to pay his pending bill amount and make a current payment to be caught up, adding that Iluonokhalumhe had not paid since Feb. 11.

A verbal argument ensued, and Iluonokhalumhe demanded the employee make new room keys for him so he could enter the rooms. The report states the employee refused, which resulted in Iluonokhalumhe getting aggressive and saying “I don’t know you, you don’t know me, I will kill you.”

The employee said that Iluonokhalumhe opened the sales office door and punched him in the face while throwing him to the ground — injuring his hand, face and lip area — and threatened to kill him again.

The employee provided the officer with a voluntary written statement and wished to pursue charges, adding that he wanted Iluonokhalumhe and his family to be trespassed from the business.

Iluonokhalumhe, who was apprehended after the second officer tracked down the Kia, told officers while en route to jail that he slapped and struck the employee because he felt he was trying to take advantage of him with all of the money he had paid him, and that it felt that he was always asking him for money.

Iluonokhalumhe’s bail was set at $7,500. He’s set to appear back in Girard Municipal Court for a pretrial hearing Wednesday, court records show.