Criminal charges coming Wednesday in Flint water crisis

[Eugene]

Source: Detroit Free Press

Criminal charges coming Wednesday in Flint water crisis

Paul Egan and Matthew Dolan, Detroit Free Press 9:11 p.m. EDT April 19, 2016

LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette will announce criminal charges Wednesday in connection with his ongoing investigation of the Flint drinking water crisis, three sources familiar with the investigation told the Free Press Tuesday.

Officials believe the city got artificially low lead readings because they didn't test the homes most at risk — those with lead service lines or other features putting them at high risk for lead. Among those to be charged is a City of Flint official who signed a document saying the homes Flint used to test tap water under the federal Lead and Copper Rule all had lead service lines — a statement investigators allege was false.

Schuette is to announce felony and misdemeanor charges against at least two, and possibly as many as four people, according to two other sources familiar with the investigation. The investigation is ongoing and more charges are expected, sources said.

The charges, which will be brought against individuals connected with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the City of Flint, relate to the lead contamination of Flint's drinking water and not to the possible link between Flint River water and an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease that is tied to the deaths of 12 death people, one of the sources said.

Schuette, a Republican who is widely expected to run for governor in 2018, opened an investigation in January, tapping former Detroit FBI director Andrew Arena and Royal Oak attorney Todd Flood to head the probe.

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Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/04/19/criminal-charges-coming-wednesday-flint-water-crisis/83251574/

[Eugene]

1. 3 Charged With Several Crimes in Flint Water Crisis

Source: Associated Press

3 Charged With Several Crimes in Flint Water Crisis

By DAVID EGGERT, ASSOCIATED PRESS LANSING, Mich. — Apr 20, 2016, 11:12 AM ET

Two state regulators and a Flint employee were charged Wednesday with evidence tampering and several other felony and misdemeanor counts related to the Michigan city's lead-tainted water crisis.

The charges — the first levied in a probe that is expected to broaden — were filed against a pair of state Department of Environmental Quality officials and a local water treatment plant supervisor and stem from an investigation by the Michigan attorney general's office.

Michael Prysby, a DEQ district engineer, and Stephen Busch, who is a supervisor with the DEQ's Office of Drinking Water, were both charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence and violations of water treatment and monitoring laws.

Flint utilities administrator Michael Glasgow was charged with tampering with evidence for changing lead water-testing results and willful neglect of duty as a public servant.

Busch is on paid leave after being suspended earlier. Prysby recently took another job in the agency. Glasgow testified at a legislative hearing that Prysby told him phosphate was not needed to prevent lead corrosion from pipes until after a year of testing.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/officials-charged-flint-water-crisis-38531436