Salinas man convicted of child abuse

A Salinas man was found guilty of child abuse and battery on Monday.

According to Monterey County District Attorney Dean D. Flippo, 24-year-old Omar Mendez-Sanchez hit two nine-year-olds with a belt at an apartment complex on June 20, 2016.

The two kids were playing with their squirt guns and accidentally squirted Mendez-Sanchez so Mendez-Sanchez took off his belt and chased them. He hit one of them in the hand and both in the back with his belt. Both children had red marks on their backs when officers arrived.

Mendez-Sanchez will be sentenced on June 23, 2017. He faces a maximum of two years in jail.