Patrick Brazeau pleads not guilty to assault, cocaine charges

Suspended Senator Patrick Brazeau has pleaded not guilty to five charges, including two counts of assault, after he was arrested Thursday morning at a Gatineau home.

Brazeau was arrested at a private residence on Boulevard Labrosse at about 4 a.m. ET after officers responded to a report of a possible domestic disturbance.

In addition to the assault charges, Brazeau was also charged with possession of cocaine, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and breaching previous release conditions.

He is expected to return to court on Friday.

• TIMELINE: Patrick Brazeau's troubled rise and fall

Gatineau police officers found a 39-year-old man and a woman on the porch of the home, Gatineau police said in a media release.

"After talking to the female, she was complaining about being a victim of an assault by the man, so police officers [proceeded to arrest] the 39-year-old man at the scene," said Const. Pierre Lanthier, a Gatineau police spokesman, in an interview.

A small amount of cocaine was also found on the man.

Police said another man was inside the home at the time, and that he alleged the man on the porch had threatened him. The man on the porch, meanwhile, said the man inside had assaulted him.

The 50-year-old man in the house is also facing an assault charge.

"That man is a friend of the woman," Lanthier said. "He was complaining about being a victim of assault by the 39-year-old man, so that charge will be laid against the 39-year-old man."

Brazeau and retired Liberal senator Mac Harb were charged in February with fraud and breach of trust in relation to the ongoing Senate spending scandal.

Brazeau also faces charges of assault and sexual assault after being arrested in February 2013. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Since then, Brazeau had found work as day manager of BareFax Gentlemen's Club, a strip club near Parliament Hill in Ottawa, across the river from Gatineau.