Six Michigan State Employees Criminally Charged For Flint Water Crisis

The result, Schuette said, “was water was poisoned”.

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services workers Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller and Robert Scott, and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Liane Shekter-Smith; Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook were charged Friday morning.

Under the leadership of a state-appointed emergency manager, officials in April 2014 began using the Flint River as Flints water supply to save money.

The switch was meant to save money, but instead created a public health crisis that continues more than two years later. For decades, it had used water piped in from Lake Huron, with anti-corrosion chemicals added along the way by Detroit water officials. Some experts think that a potentially fatal Legionnaires’ disease outbreak is tied to the water as well.

The employees are accused of purposely falsifying reports to hide lead contamination in Flint’s water supply. Miller, the state’s head epidemiologist, allegedly ordered a DHHS employee to ignore the findings of high lead levels and take no action. He said Miller has left the health department, but Peeler and Scott are still employed. The crisis has prompted lawsuits by parents who say their children have shown dangerously high levels of lead in their blood.

At the Department of Environmental Quality, Smith, chief of the Drinking Water Municipal Division, “intentionally misled and took steps to conceal” that the water was unsafe, Seipenko said.

Five of the six people charged could not be reached immediately for comment.

Friday’s charges will be challenging to prosecute, according to Wayne State University law professor Peter J. Henning.

“I don’t get it”.

Schuette said Friday that his team was “way far from done”-offering a modicum of assurance to those seeking accountability from Snyder and other top officials”.

“These individuals concealed the truth”, Mr. Schuette continued.

Peeler was the director of the MDHHS Program fir Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting in July 2015 when she requested an internal report on blood lead levels in Flint children.

Peeler, 54, of Midland was charged with felony misconduct in office and conspiracy, along with misdemeanor willful neglect of duty by a public officer.

Cook: 1 count wilful neglect of duty (misdemeanor: 1 year and/or $1,000); 1 count misconduct in office (felony: 5 years and/or $10,000); 1 count conspiracy (felony: 5 years and/or $10,000). Charges include misconduct, conspiracy to commit misconduct and willful neglect of duties.

The new charges come after three state and local officials were ordered to face criminal charges in April over the scandal, although charges against one of the defendants were later reduced in a cooperation deal with investigators.

“I’m really surprised to see criminal charges”. Mike Glasgow, the employee from the city, did not contest charges and is assisting in the investigation.