Two different men appeared in court this week on suspicion of felony assault of children.

On March 22, a social worker with Child Protective Services reported a child abuse allegation in Navy housing to Oak Harbor police. A 25-year-old man was accused of whipping his middle-school daughter on the back and arms with an extension cord, causing red marks and welts, according to a police report.

The man was also allegedly grabbed her by the collar, making it hard for her to breathe, and threatened to kill her, the report states.

Oak Harbor police and Navy security officers responded to the home. The girl told an investigator that her father got upset because she wasn’t able to finish her homework in the time that was set for her, the police report states. She said she feared her would kill her, the report states.

The man denied whipping the girl with an extension cord. He said he couldn’t explain why she had marks on her, the report states. The man refused to provide the code to his gun safe so Navy police confiscated the entire safe.

Prosecutors charged the man in Island County Superior Court March 27 with assault of a child in the third degree, a domestic violence crime. He appeared in court two days prior and was released on his own recognizance.

On the same day, March 22, Oak Harbor police also investigated a Child Protective Services referral about an elementary school boy who went to a school nurse with injuries to the back of his leg. School officials became concerned because the 8-year-old boy’s story about what happened seemed to change.

Officers spoke to the boy’s father, who admitted that he had unintentionally caused the injuries with a hot fork, according to the police report. He told an officer that the boy jumped onto the counter after seeing a cockroach. The man was frying bacon at the time and touched the hot fork to the boy’s calf, the report states.

The man appeared in Island County Superior Court March 27 and the judge found probable cause existed to believe he committed the crime of assault of a child in the third degree. He was release on his own recognizance.