Michigan’s Attorney General has filed criminal charges against six more city officials in the Flint water crisis, some of the most serious among them being conspiracy to knowingly withhold information from the public about the severity of the contamination.
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Special Prosecutor Todd Flood answers reporters’ questions after Attorney General Bill Schuette announced six more state employees are charged in connection to the Flint water crisis on Friday, July 29, 2016 at University of Michigan-Flint in downtown Flint. Now the probe is working up the chain of command.
“You don’t start at the top”, Arena said. “We continue to work every day to find the truth for Flint“. “We will provide the justice they deserve”. And in MI, the justice system is not rigged. “The laws apply to everyone, equally, no matter who you are”.
The charges against Shekter-Smith, Cook and Rosenthal relate to their failure to take corrective action once they knew about Flint’s water problems.
The accusations mark the third round of charges related to the investigation into the Flint water crisis. Miller has left the MDHHS, Schuette said, while Peeler and Scott are still employed in the department.
The people charged Friday are Nancy Peeler, Corrine Miller, Robert Scott, Liane Shekter-Smith, Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal, all current or former employees of either the state Department of Environmental Quality or the Department of Health and Human Services.
Shekter-Smith has been charged with misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty.
At the press conference Schuette stated that in Fall 2015 epidemiologist Cristin Larder presented a report showing that blood tests done in July – September 2015 found that Flint residents had increased levels of lead in their blood. That report allegedly showed no significant rise in the blood levels of Flint’s children during the summer of 2014.
Shekter Smith’s attorney, Brian Morley, said Friday that he was surprised she was charged. Attorneys for the others were not immediately available.
His co-worker Peter Cook allegedly misled the feds about whether corrosion control methods were needed after Flint’s water supply was switched.
The water disaster in Flint, a city of about 95,000 people, began to unfold more than two years ago. That allowed lead and other substances such as iron to leach from aging pipes into the drinking water.
Last year, researchers and medical personnel discovered high levels of lead in Flint residents, especially children. Lead has been tied to a host of medical problems, especially in the nervous system. Charges allege that in 2015, Rosenthal willfully participated int he manipulation of lead testing restuls and falsely reported that the 90th percentile of the results for lead water testing was below the federal action level. Busch and Prysby have pleaded not guilty. Cook was charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to engage in misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty. Rosenthal is charged with misconduct office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence or engage in misconduct in office, and tampering with evidence as a public officer engaged in a willful neglect of his duty.
Glasgow told CNN that Busch and Prysby directed him to alter water quality reports and remove the highest lead levels. “Or was it poor decision-making?” Snyder said in April he believed he had not done anything criminally wrong. “And again, I’m not looking for vindication”.
The city switched back to the Lake Huron water supply in October.
“He’s the one that declared a state of emergency”.
President Barack Obama visited Flint in May and spoke after a briefing from officials on response efforts to the lead poisoning. The water is still not considered safe to drink.
Steve Branch, Mayor Karen Weaver’s chief of staff, sat in on the press conference.
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The result, Schuette said, “was water was poisoned”.
