BELLNGHAM, WA. – (KGMI.com) Two Whatcom County parents were arrested after allegedly assaulting their infant child.

Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Deb Slater says social workers alerted detectives to a four-month-old baby that was admitted to the hospital with unexplained injuries on October 12th.

At that time, detectives did not have enough evidence to believe that the child was being abused.

But nearly a month later, they were alerted again of the same infant in the emergency room due to a respiratory illness and an injury on their cheek.

The infant’s parents were interviewed multiple times and could not explain their child’s injuries.

Detectives arrested the parents, 26-year-old Bryan VanderHoek and 19-year-old Destany Jacobs, on Wednesday, December 20th.

Both parents face child assault and criminal mistreatment charges.