ROWLEY — An Iraq War veteran and former Army medic poses too great a danger to his ex-girlfriend to release on bail, a Salem Superior Court judge has found.

But a lawyer for Scott Stone says his client may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and on the morning of his arrest last month had just been given a new medication for anxiety — medication he mixed with alcohol.

Stone served with the Army National Guard in Baghdad in 2006 and 2007, his lawyer said.

Across the country, there have been a growing number of reported incidents of violence and suicides among returning veterans. A study released last month by the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center found that more than one-third of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan were diagnosed with some type of mental health disorder, and within that group, 22 percent were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Stone, 43, of Rowley, is facing charges of criminal harassment and violating a restraining order — within feet of the Ipswich police station — after a daylong series of incidents on July 14.

Stone started that day with a visit to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford, where he was seen for anxiety and depression, his lawyer, Douglas Evans, told Salem Superior Court Judge John Lu during a hearing Wednesday.

There, he was prescribed the drug Ativan for his anxiety and sent home.

As the day continued, Stone grew increasingly agitated over the state of his six-month relationship with an Ipswich woman, who told police she had been trying to break up with him.

Police had been to the woman's home twice in recent months, for a May 10 incident in which Stone threw an object that struck someone's forehead, and a more serious call on July 9, when Stone shoved the woman out of her own apartment, leaving him inside, alone, with her young son, prosecutor Meg Morrissey told the judge.

It was the series of incidents on July 14 that led the woman to finally seek a restraining order, however.

Morrissey said Stone made 40 calls in a half-hour and began banging on her doors and windows. After police warned him to stop calling, he called the woman again, this time threatening to kill himself.

The woman asked police to check on Stone — and to help her get a restraining order from an on-call judge.

Then, as the woman was leaving the police station, Stone allegedly jumped out of the bushes near the Ipswich police station, in view of security cameras, and onto the hood of her car near the intersection of Elm and County streets. Police smelled alcohol on him, something his lawyer acknowledged.

"He was inebriated," Evans told the judge.

He was arrested and has been held without bail since, at Middleton Jail.

Evans has tried twice to convince judges, both in Ipswich District Court in Newburyport and in Salem Superior Court, that his client should be released on conditions, including treatment, arguing that Stone is no longer an imminent threat to the woman.

"He can't get help if he's in jail," Evans argued.

Evans said that while Stone has not been officially diagnosed with PTSD from his service as a medic in 2006 and 2007, his wife told Evans' supervisors at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, where he had recently started working, that he needed a medical leave to be treated for PTSD.

Morrissey argued that regardless of the source of Stone's issues, he should not be released under any circumstances, citing testimony from the woman that Stone was "controlling" and "obsessive," questioning the woman constantly about where she was going and with whom.

"She's in extreme fear," Morrissey told the judge.

In a written decision, Lu agreed, noting that "no combination of conditions will reasonably ensure the safety of the alleged victim."

The judge was particularly troubled by the allegation that Stone waited just yards from a police station for the woman.

"Mr. Stone's lack of fear of the police suggests to the court that he does not fear the consequences of violating conditions of bail or pretrial probation and that the court must hold him without bail to reasonably ensure the safety of the alleged victim."

He is due back in court on Wednesday.

Staff writer Victor Tine contributed to this report.