William Luke, 29, and Mercedes Hanifin, 27, were arrested Friday by Kingsport police. In February, the Kingsport Police Department began investigating injuries inflicted to the children, who were born in November of last year.
In June, the case was presented to a Sullivan County grand jury, resulting in eight felony charges against Luke. He faces four counts of aggravated child abuse, a Class A felony, and four counts of aggravated domestic assault, a Class C felony. The incidents are believed to have occurred between Feb. 13 and 20.
Hanifin was charged with two counts of aggravated assault by failure to protect, a Class C felony. She allegedly knew about Luke's abuse but did nothing to intervene.
More about the charges against Luke and Hanifin from the Kingsport Times News.