WOODBURY — Afraid that lower bail might allow a man charged with sexually assaulting a girl under 13 to be deported before a trial, a Superior Court judge Friday kept Carlos Calderon’s bail at $300,000.

Calderon, 31, lives in Deptford, but is from Guatemala. He was charged on Feb. 11 with assaulting his victim at least twice last year, authorities said.

Judge Kevin T. Smith said the “strong likelihood of deportation, even without conviction,” convinced him to deny further bail reduction. Calderon’s initial bail was $800,000, reduced by court order.

Bringing Calderon back from Guatemala to face charges of sexual assault, criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child would “be at substantial expense” to the state and county.

Calderon’s lawyer Ron Appleby said his client “asserts his innocence.”

The victim reportedly told her mother, a social worker and a county detective what happened and her “disclosures have been consistent,” said Assistant Gloucester County Prosecutor Joseph Brook.