ELLSWORTH – A New Hampshire man charged with setting fire to a summer home in Bar Harbor that belonged to his girlfriend pleaded not guilty Friday in Hancock County Superior Court.

Dennis Freda, 47, of Center Ossipee, N.H., was indicted earlier this month on charges of Class A arson and Class B burglary.

He remained Friday at Hancock County Jail on $50,000 cash bail, which was set at Freda’s initial appearance in March. A trial date has not been set.

Freda is suspected of stabbing his girlfriend, a 42-year-old North Conway, N.H., woman, with an ice pick in New Hampshire on March 9.

Police believe the man then drove to Maine to set fire to a summer home on Salisbury Cove in Bar Harbor that belonged to the woman’s family. Authorities have said that Freda stayed inside the burning building in an attempt to commit “suicide by fire.”

The 188-year-old farmhouse had extensive fire damage but remained largely intact. Fire officials went to the scene and found Freda unconscious on the second floor. He was taken to a hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

Freda’s girlfriend did not suffer serious injuries as a result of the alleged stabbing, but authorities have said charges are likely in New Hampshire.

He has been held at Hancock County Jail, but has also spent time at Acadia Hospital in Bangor, where he received psychiatric treatment, officials said.