SALISBURY — Lindsey Lenell Hayes of Reidsville was convicted this week by a Rowan County Superior Court jury of two counts of felony assault with physical injury on a detention employee.

After the guilty verdict, Hayes admitted his status as a habitual felon. Judge Mark Klass sentenced him to a minimum of 45 months to a maximum of 66 months in prison.

On April 1, 2016, officers with the Salisbury Police Department were dispatched to Piedmont Correctional Institution to investigate an assault on two detention officers.

The detention officers were working at inmate Hayes’ unit when he became argumentative. Hayes punched one of the detention officers in the head, knocked her to the ground and then kicked her. Hayes punched the other detention officer in the head several times until other detention officers arrived to restrain him.

He was in prison on a conviction of felony discharging a firearm into occupied property in Rockingham County.

Hayes had previously been convicted of felony possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine, felony common law robbery, and felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, among other convictions.

Rowan County District Attorney Brandy Cook said she “appreciated the joint effort on behalf of Assistant District Attorney Tim Gould and the Salisbury Police Department in holding Hayes accountable for his continued criminal conduct.”

Cook saidher office “identified Hayes as a repeat offender at an early stage, and his sentence was enhanced accordingly.”