ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina man charged with beating a woman who had a protective order against him and then calling her 223 times from jail has been sentenced to a minimum of 3 1/2 years in prison.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported Thursday that Lewie Robinson pleaded guilty to assault inflicting serious injury, assault by strangulation, misdemeanor assault and violating the order.

Police say the 54-year-old Robinson was initially charged in May with assaulting the woman, and was later served in jail with 28 more arrest warrants for having violated the domestic violence protection order. Even then, he kept it up, calling her hundreds of times over four months from the Buncombe County Detention Center, even though he was to have no contact with her.

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