Psychologist At Juvenile Center Faces 65 Sexual Assault Felonies: NYSP

HUDSON, NY — A psychologist working at a juvenile detention center in Columbia County was accused of sexually assaulting numerous young people in custody.

The New York State Police said troopers in conjunction with the Columbia County District Attorney’s Office, the New York Office of Children and Family Services and the New York State Justice Center, arrested on Friday Dr. Maya Hayes, an associate psychologist at Brookwood Secure Center in Hudson.

Police said, following an extensive investigation, Hayes sexually assaulted numerous victims at the center over the course of several years while employed as the facility clinician.

Hayes, 46, of Albany, was indicted by a grand jury for 62 counts of third-degree criminal sexual act and three counts of third-degree rape, all felonies.

She was arraigned in the Columbia County Court and released under the supervision of the Columbia County Probation Department.

Brookwood Secure Center for Youth, which is operated by the state's Office of Children and Family Services, has a maximum capacity of 125 male and female juvenile and adolescent offenders, who, while younger than 16, committed certain violent felonies and were convicted and sentenced in adult criminal court or via family court as part of Raise the Age legislation. Depending on their sentence, they may remain in custody up to age 21.