By JIM HICKEY

A 20-year-old inmate at the Edgartown house of correction has been accused of attacking another inmate after a disagreement over a washing machine in jail laundry facilities last month. James Mettelus was arraigned in Edgartown district court last Monday on a single charge of assault and battery.

Mr. Mettelus came to the Island from the school for boys on Penikese Island. At the school he allegedly assaulted two counselors; after he was transferred to jail in Edgartown he reportedly attacked another inmate last August.

For that attack he was sentenced in April to serve two and a half years in the house of correction.

At his arraignment last Monday on the new charges, a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf and his bail was set at $1,000. Mr. Mettelus is due back in court on July 12 for a pretrial conference.

In other court news, an 18-year-old Cambridge man was arraigned in district court last Tuesday on charges of rape by force and assault and battery. Eliot Blume-Pickle is accused of raping a 17-year-old girl at a party on June 25 at a home on Kuffie’s Point Way in the Northern Pines Section of Tisbury.

The home where the alleged incident occurred is owned by author and seasonal resident Judy Blume, who is Mr. Blume-Pickle’s grandmother.

According to the police incident report, about two days later the victim told her mother about the alleged attack and was brought her to the emergency room of the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. Police were notified, and a search warrant was executed at the Kuffie’s Point Way home the next day.

Police believe teenagers were drinking alcohol at the party, and they are investigating where the alcohol came from.

Mr. Blume-Pickle was released on Tuesday after posting $5,000 cash bail. He is due back in court in August for a pretrial conference.