Misconduct in office applies to three employees from the Department of Environmental Quality and three from the state Department of Health and Human Services. The trio, according to Schuette, not only ignored the report but trumpeted bogus findings in its stead.
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Shekter-Smith: 1 count, misconduct in office (felony: 5 years and/or $10,000); 1 count willful neglect of duty (misdemeanor, 1 year and/or $1,000).
Schuette said Shekter-Smith is no longer with the Department of Environmental Quality, but Cook and Rosenthal still work in the drinking water section of the DEQ.
Patrick Cook, 52, of Dewitt, is in charge of compliance for lead and copper monitoring with the MDEQ. Rosenthal is charged with misconduct in 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. Residents nearly immediately began to complain about brown, foul-smelling water and health issues. After repeatedly assurances that the water was safe, the state eventually admitted an untold number of children had been poisoned for months.
An email sent by Peeler in July 2015 saying “we don’t believe our data demonstrates an increase in lead poisoning rates that might be attributable to the change in water source for Flint”. As many as 12,000 children in the city are thought to have been exposed to the contaminated water.
Friday’s charges prompted calls for more action.
According to Jeff Seipenko, an investigator in Schuette’s office, Peeler and Scott worked together to hide a damning report that showed elevated blood lead testing in Flint residents during the summer of 2015. Adam Rosenthal, one of the six, is also facing felony charges of tampering with evidence. The students were being tested for lead after the metal was found in the city’s drinking water.
The charges follow an April decision by Schuette to charge two state employees and one municipal Flint employee for their roles in the contamination.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette is set to announce the second round of criminal charges stemming from the crisis at 11:30 a.m. Today’s indictments reached the highest level of state government to date, but still targeted mid-level state employees and their supervisors. Critics have questioned his impartiality and whether he would be willing to take down individuals connected to the governor’s administration. At that time, he promised more criminal charges would be forthcoming.
“I hope justice be served and come down swiftly to them because what has happened has devastated this community”, said Quincy Murphy, community activist.
“I think we’re going to be really hard-pressed to find that she did anything wrong, and certainly nothing criminally wrong”, he said. What happens all day? The first wave of charges in the investigation of the lead contamination crisis were announced last spring.
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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”.
