Michigan

Flint water crisis: Two state officials, one local official charged with felony and misdemeanor crimes

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Latest on the lead-tainted water crisis in Flint, Michigan (all times local):

11:05 a.m.

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

The charges, filed Wednesday in a state court, stem from an investigation by the Michigan attorney general’s office.

Michael Prysby, a district engineer for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and Stephen Busch, who is a supervisor with the DEQ’s Office of Drinking Water, are 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 is charged with tampering with evidence for changing lead water-testing results and willful neglect of duty as a public servant.

For nearly 18 months after Flint’s water source was switched while the city was under state financial management, residents drank and bathed with improperly treated water that coursed through aging pipes and fixtures, releasing toxic lead.

2:30 a.m.

Michigan’s attorney general is set to announce criminal charges against two state regulators and a Flint employee, alleging wrongdoing related to the city’s lead-tainted water crisis, according to two government officials familiar with the investigation.

The charges will be filed Wednesday against a pair of state Department of Environmental Quality officials and a local water treatment plant supervisor, the officials told The Associated Press late Tuesday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

The charges would be the first levied in a probe that’s expected to broaden.

A spokesman for Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office declined comment Tuesday night. Schuette and other investigators have scheduled a news conference Wednesday afternoon to make a “significant” announcement in the investigation.

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