The King County Sheriff's Office said the 54-year-old Shoreline, Wash., man invited the prostitute to his home after reading her ad on Web site Craigslist, The Seattle Times reported Tuesday.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Urquhart said the man paid the woman for sex and thought she was trying to leave without doing the deed when she walked toward the door of his home to find better cell phone reception.

The man allegedly attacked the prostitute, and during the tussle he bit off a quarter-sized piece of her ear, authorities said.

Doctors at Harborview Medical Center said they were unsure whether the piece of ear, which authorities retrieved from the man's garbage can during his arrest, could be reattached.