Several people have been charged with involuntary manslaughter in an investigation regarding Flint's water crisis, in which lead contamination sparked an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in 2014 and 2015.

The names of fifteen state and local officials, many of whom were employed by Michigan's Department of Environment Quality, was released by the Associated Press on Friday.

Of those charged, seven pleaded no contest and were given misdemeanor deals that will keep their criminal record clean. Officials named by the AP as charged include the following: Michael Prysby, Stephen Busch, Liane Shekter Smith and Adam Rosenthal of the Department of Environmental Quality; City of Flint workers Mike Glasgow and Daughtery "Duffy" Johnson and Corinne Miller from the state's Department of Health and Human Services.

Eight others are facing a range of charges from misconduct in an office conspiracy to involuntary manslaughter. But the charges are still pending. They include the following, according to the AP: Former chief medical executive Dr. Eden Wells; state health department workers Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott; Patrick Cook of the Department of Environmental Quality; Howard Croft, the former director of Flint public works; the city's former emergency managers Darnell Early and Gerald Ambrose.

"I'm furious â absolutely furious," says a mother who helped expose Flint, Michigan's lead-tainted drinking water. Three years after the scandal erupted, no one is in prison over it. — The Associated Press (@AP) January 18, 2019

The charges mark the biggest advancement in the investigation since Michigan's state health director Nick Lyon was indicted in August for not responding quickly enough to the outbreak of lead poisoning in Flint's water.

The crisis has been linked to the deaths of 12 people, two of whom-Robert Skidmore, 85, and John Snyder, 83—some experts believe developed the disease in direct relation to drinking contaminated water.

Flint officials chose to use tap water from the Flint River opposed to the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department in an attempt to cut cost. Although a spike in Legionnaires' disease occurred in Flint as early as 2014, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder didn't announce the outbreak until January 2016. Lyon had been aware of the increase months before.

In the three years that have passed since the scandal first started receiving major attention, no convictions have been reached.</s>Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>15 people have been charged in the Flint water scandal

DETROIT (AP) — Fifteen people have been charged in an investigation of how Flint's water became contaminated with lead in 2014-15 and a related outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. Seven people have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors in deals that will leave them without a criminal record.

— Michael Prysby, Stephen Busch, Liane Shekter Smith, Adam Rosenthal, all from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

— Mike Glasgow and Daugherty "Duffy" Johnson, who both worked for the city of Flint.

— Corinne Miller of the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Charges are pending against eight people:

— Nick Lyon, former director of the state health department. Involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office.

— Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott of the state health department. Misconduct in office, conspiracy.

— Patrick Cook of the Department of Environmental Quality. Misconduct in office, conspiracy.</s>FLINT, Mich. - Michigan’s attorney general in 2016 promised to investigate “without fear or favor” the scandal over Flint’s lead-tainted drinking water and pledged that state regulators would be locked up for fudging data and misleading the public.

Yet three years later, no one is behind bars. Instead, seven of 15 defendants have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors, some as minor as disrupting a public meeting. Their records eventually will be scrubbed clean.

That has angered some people in Flint who believe key players who could have prevented the lead disaster are getting off easy. Four of five people at the state Department of Environmental Quality who were on the front line of the crisis have struck deals. The remaining cases mostly center on a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease and early disastrous decisions to use water from the Flint River.

“I’m furious — absolutely furious,” said LeeAnne Walters, a mother of four who is credited with exposing the lead contamination. “It’s a slap in the face to every victim in the city of Flint.”

Walters, 40, said she was repeatedly brushed off by the Department of Environmental Quality, known as DEQ, even as she confronted officials with bottles of brown water. She testified in Congress after then-Gov. Rick Snyder in 2015 finally acknowledged the lead mess, and she later was honored with an international prize for grassroots environmental activism.

“Instead of people being held accountable, they’re getting a free pass,” Walters said. “The fact remains there wouldn’t have been a problem with the lead and the legionella if the water had been treated properly, if MDEQ would have done their job.”

Flint was one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history. While waiting for a new pipeline to bring water from Lake Huron, the majority-black city of 100,000 pulled water from a river in 2014-15 without treating it to reduce corrosive effects on old pipes. Lead infected the distribution system in Flint, where 41 percent of residents are classified by the government as living in poverty.

Due to poor finances, Flint was being run by financial managers appointed by the governor. The uproar over water quality reached a peak by fall 2015 when a doctor reported high levels of lead in children, which can cause brain damage. The water no longer comes from the river and has significantly improved, but some residents are so distrusful that they continue to use bottled water.

Liane Shekter Smith, who was fired as head of Michigan’s drinking water office, was charged with misconduct in office and neglect of duty. Special prosecutor Todd Flood later put her on notice that he would pursue an involuntary manslaughter charge, arguing that she could have shut down the Flint water plant and reduced the threat of legionella bacteria, which causes Legionnaires’.

But charges were dropped on Jan. 7 in exchange for a no-contest plea to an obscure misdemeanor that will not result in any jail time: disturbance of a lawful meeting. She had declined to accept a report about water quality from Walters and others. Two other key agency employees, Michael Prysby and Stephen Busch, made deals on Dec. 26. All three will have their records erased if they cooperate with Flood.

Shekter Smith wanted “to put some closure on this matter,” attorney Brian Morley said of her plea agreement. “Criminal charges weren’t warranted.”

State Sen. Jim Ananich of Flint, who runs his water through a filter, said he’s listened to frustrated residents.

“At the beginning there was a feeling of good, someone is going to be held accountable. Now people don’t believe anyone is going to be held accountable,” he said.

The outcome so far is different than the dramatic scene in 2016 when Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican who was poised to run for governor, traveled to Flint to announce felony charges against Prysby, a DEQ engineer, and Busch, a DEQ regional supervisor.

“Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby misled federal and local authorities, regulatory officials, and failed to provide safe and clean water to families of Flint,” Schuette declared at that time. “When we prove these allegations — and we will — Mr. Busch and Mr. Prysby will be facing five years in prison for this count alone.”

Andy Arena, a Flint water investigator and former head of the FBI in Detroit, believes the plea deals are appropriate.

“There are culpable folks out there that we need to get to,” he said. “This is how it works: You cut deals with certain people to move the case up the line. I believe these people have some information that could significantly assist in our ongoing investigation.”

Schuette, who lost the governor’s race and is out of public office, said: “I stand with Andy,” referring to Arena. Flood declined to comment on his strategy.

The new attorney general, Dana Nessel, has asked a Detroit-area prosecutor to review the remaining cases , including involuntary manslaughter charges against Nick Lyon, the former head of the Michigan health department who has been ordered to trial.

Lyon is accused of failing to alert the public in a timely manner about the Legionnaires’ outbreak, which has been linked to foul water and at least 12 deaths. Dr. Eden Wells, who was Michigan’s chief medical executive, also is facing an involuntary manslaughter trial, although both cases are tied up in appeals by aggressive defense teams.

Gerald Ambrose and Darnell Earley, who were state-appointed emergency managers when Flint was using river water, are also charged. They’re accused of being obsessed with saving money instead of protecting residents. All have pleaded not guilty.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>DETROIT (AP) - Fifteen people have been charged in an investigation of how Flint's water became contaminated with lead in 2014-15 and a related outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. Seven people have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors in deals that will leave them without a criminal record.

- Michael Prysby, Stephen Busch, Liane Shekter Smith, Adam Rosenthal, all from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

- Mike Glasgow and Daugherty "Duffy" Johnson, who both worked for the city of Flint.

- Corinne Miller of the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Charges are pending against eight people:

- Nick Lyon, former director of the state health department. Involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office.

FILE- In a Feb. 5, 2018, file photo, defendant Liane Shekter-Smith, 57, listens during a preliminary examination in the cases of four defendants, all former or current officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality in Flint, Mich. Shekter-Smith, Michael Prysby and Stephen Busch of the MDEQ recently accepted plea deals in the Flint water criminal investigation. Some Flint residents are upset, saying key people who could have stopped the lead disaster in 2014-15 are getting off easy. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP, File)

- Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott of the state health department. Misconduct in office, conspiracy.

- Patrick Cook of the Department of Environmental Quality. Misconduct in office, conspiracy.

FILE- In an April 20, 2016, file photo, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employee Michael Prysby waits in the gallery before his arraignment in Flint, Mich. Prysby, Liane Shekter Smith, and Stephen Busch of the MDEQ recently accepted plea deals in the Flint water criminal investigation. Some Flint residents are upset, saying key people who could have stopped the lead disaster in 2014-15 are getting off easy. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 10, 2018, file photo, defendant Stephen Busch, right, listens during a hearing in District Court in Flint, Mich. Busch, Michael Prysby, and Liane Shekter-Smith of the MDEQ recently accepted plea deals in the Flint water criminal investigation. Some Flint residents are upset, saying key people who could have stopped the lead disaster in 2014-15 are getting off easy. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 8, 2018 file photo, attorneys meet with Genesee District Judge Jennifer J. Manley as preliminary examination begins in the cases of four defendants, all former or current officials from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality at Flint District Court in downtown Flint, Mich. Michigan's attorney general in 2016 promised to investigate the Flint water scandal "without fear or favor" and pledged that state regulators would be locked up for fudging data and misleading the public about lead in the poor city's pipes. Yet three years later, no one is behind bars. (Jake May/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP)</s>The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.

DETROIT (AP) — Fifteen people have been charged in an investigation of how Flint’s water became contaminated with lead in 2014-15 and a related outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease. Seven people have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors in deals that will leave them without a criminal record.

— Michael Prysby, Stephen Busch, Liane Shekter Smith, Adam Rosenthal, all from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

— Mike Glasgow and Daugherty “Duffy” Johnson, who both worked for the city of Flint.

— Corinne Miller of the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Charges are pending against eight people:

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— Nick Lyon, former director of the state health department. Involuntary manslaughter, misconduct in office.

— Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott of the state health department. Misconduct in office, conspiracy.

— Patrick Cook of the Department of Environmental Quality. Misconduct in office, conspiracy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.</s>FLINT, MI -- Boosters of a federally-funded registry are looking to match people exposed to Flint water during the city’s water crisis to services designed to minimize the effect of lead.

They just want more men, women and children to work with.

Officials and media gathered at the Flint Farmers' Market on Friday, Jan. 18 for a press conference to announce that the Flint Registry was active.

“I encourage everyone -- it’s for all ages -- to sign-up so you can be connected, supported and counted,” said Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, associate professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and director of the MSU-Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative.

The Flint Registry gives anyone exposed to Flint water from April 2014 until October 2015 -- an estimated 150,000 people -- access to services and programs, including the the Genesee Health System’s Neurodevelopmental Center of Excellence, which provides assessment services for children.

The Registry is funded in part by a $14.4-million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Members of Congress who helped secure the funding were thanked at a program to promote the program Friday, including U.S. Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters, and U.S. Reps Dan Kildee, D-Flint, and John Moolenaar, R-Midland.

“Our delegation here has been such a strong voice for us, and we thank you so much ... This wouldn’t be happening if you hadn’t been down there fighting ... It’s nice to know you all have our backs,” Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said.

Hanna-Attisha said several dozen people have been fully enrolled in the Flint Registry and almost 6,000 people have pre-enrolled, starting the process of qualifying for services.

Maxine Onstott, a mother of four, was one of the first Flint residents to enroll and has already been referred to services including the Lead Safe Home Program at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

Former Obama administrator to head Michigan Department of Health and Human Services

That program offers assistance to low and moderate- income families, as well as rental property owners, in making their homes lead-safe for children.

“I know from personal experience it can be extremely difficult and confusing to find available resources while juggling work, kids, home life, responsibilities (and) not knowing if you’re eligible ... or what’s even out there,” Onstott said. “I can related to the many Flint residents who run into these same barriers, and things can feel hopeless at times.”

New MDHHS Director Robert Gordon, whose department was centrally involved in the water crisis, also spoke at Friday’s enrollment promotion event and offered his support.

Gordon replaced Nick Lyon, who still faces criminal charges related to the water crisis, including two counts of involuntary manslaughter, in Genesee Circuit Court.

The charges relate to Lyon’s performance as director during outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County while the city of Flint was attempting to treat its own water.

“The state government and my department lost the trust of the people of Flint and for good reason, and the question now is how we rebuild that trust,” Gordon said. "One (way) is that we do the work ... and the second way we rebuild trust is to hold firm to the right principles.

“You honor and listen to science and the scientists. You put the interest of the public ahead of agency interests or personal interests, and you treat people -- whatever their race, background (and) wherever they’re from with dignity and respect and honesty," he said.</s>FLINT, MI -- A drinking water expert says regulators at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality should have known they were flirting with disaster when they allowed the city to treat its own water in 2014.

Robert Bowcock, who visited Flint’s water plant in early 2015, told Genesee District Court Judge Jennifer Manley Wednesday, Jan. 15, that he could see problems as soon as he walked in the front door and so should have DEQ officials who had oversight responsibilities.

“It was a mess and the reason it was a mess was it was a treatment plant ... that was seldom used ... and sat in mothballs 50 weeks out of the year ...,” said Bowcock, a longtime associate of environmental activist Erin Brockovich. “It was sort of like grandma’s Chevy .. full of spider webs, dust and bad oil.”

Flint’s water source was changed from pre-treated Lake Huron water to the Flint River in April 2014 and the city’s treatment plant was put into full-time operation for the first time since 1967 in what was promoted as a temporary, cost-saving move while the city was being run by a state-appointed emergency manager.

City, state and federal officials agree that the river water was never properly treated to make it less corrosive to Flint’s water distribution system, which included transmission lines made of lead.

Bowcock testified Wednesday during the preliminary examination of Patrick Cook, a specialist for the DEQ’s Community Drinking Water Unit.

Cook, 55, is the last of four current and former DEQ officials originally charged with criminal wrongdoing related to the Flint water crisis. Three other defendants accepted plea agreements with prosecutors in the past several weeks.

Cook remains charged with willful neglect of duty, misconduct in office and conspiracy.

Here are the next steps for 8 remaining Flint water crisis defendants

Prosecutors allege that he was the DEQ official responsible for compliance with the Lead and Copper Rule and that he signed a permit in 2014 that was necessary for the use of the Flint water plant.

They claim he was aware of problems in Flint but took no action to ensure residents received clean, safe drinking water and misled the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding the necessity of treating Flint River water to make it less corrosive.

Cook’s attorneys have claimed their client is not guilty of the charges and pointed out Wednesday that Bowcock spent only a few hours at the water plant and never had first-hand dealings with Cook.

Bowcock traveled to Flint while the city was struggling to control bacteria and total trihalomethanes in the water system. Only later in 2015 did problems with elevated lead become public as well as suspicions that outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease were linked to Flint water.

New boss of Flint water prosecutions vows to 'right the ship’

In meeting with city officials at the time, he testified that he recommended the city “back off” its heavy use of chemicals like lime in an effort to control water quality.

Bowcock said it should have been “reasonably foreseeable” that Flint would have problems with the safety and quality of its water after the city’s water source was changed to the river without corrosion control.

“I did not feel confident the water leaving the plant that day (I visited) was safe,” Bowcock testified.

Unlike other witnesses who have testified about specific problems with equipment inside the Flint treatment plant, Bowcock said the problems were widespread because the plant hadn’t been used to regularly produce drinking water for decades.

The plant was built in 1956.

“It was generally in disrepair ... just a dirty old treatment plant -- not the kind of thing that you just whimsically fire up to save a few bucks,” he said.</s>New Democratic leadership in the investigation into the Flint water crisis has sparked hope among activists that a tougher line will be taken on prosecuting officials and compensating victims of the environmental disaster.

The move comes after three years of Republicans leading the investigation saw 15 state and city officials face criminal charges or be prosecuted over decisions that led to at least 12 deaths, and likely sickened thousands more. At the same time, hundreds of civil lawsuits representing tens of thousands of victims are working their way through state and federal courts.

But critics say there’s been little accountability when Republicans headed the investigation and its targets have been let off lightly. None of the crisis’s perpetrators have paid a fine or served a day in jail for poisoning the city’s water or the subsequent cover-up. Likewise, the state isn’t paying reparations for the deaths or health problems resulting from Flint’s lead-tainted water.

Now newly elected Democratic Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel has taken over the investigation from 1 January. She enters office after a 2018 campaign in which she labeled the prosecutions “politically charged show trials” designed to benefit her predecessor, Republican Bill Schuette, who ran for governor last year.

Though Schuette’s special prosecutor, Todd Flood, initially charged suspects with felonies like involuntary manslaughter and false pretenses, he ended up negotiating seven plea deals for misdemeanors as minor as “disturbing the peace at a public meeting”.

At the same time, Schuette spent over $25m in taxpayer money on legal fees, some of which funded the state’s fights against the civil lawsuits seeking compensation.

But Nessel has pledged to fully re-evaluate the investigation, and after a week in office she announced a dramatic shift in the state’s approach to Flint.

On the criminal side, Nessel asked a Democratic prosecutor to review and take over the investigation. That could lead to more charges, or frivolous charges being dropped. Nessel also directed the state to settle civil lawsuits brought against it, which would result in victims finally receiving compensation.

With Democrats now investigating Flint, there’s a sense among many activists and community leaders that Michigan is finally serious about seeking justice for victims. The Republican-led investigation “was never about the state taking responsibility and making sure that the health of Flint’s families was the focus,” said Michigan senate minority leader and Flint resident Jim Ananich.

“It was about trying to protect the governor’s image and do public relations, and now it will be about getting Flint the justice it deserves, and making families whole,” he said.

The shift may also highlight the failure of the Republicans’ austerity measures in Michigan that many say are the crisis’s source. In November 2012, voters repealed governor Rick Snyder and the Republican-controlled legislature’s controversial emergency financial manager law. But Republicans reworked the law and rammed through a new version two months later, paving the way for Snyder to install a financial manager in Flint.

That financial manager in April 2014 ordered the city to begin pulling water from the Flint river instead of purchasing it from Detroit as a cost saving measure. Soon after, Flint’s water turned dark as residents began experiencing lead poisoning symptoms and dying from Legionnaires disease.

A series of meaningful sentences and payouts could be viewed not just as a condemnation of those involved in the immediate crisis, but wider Republican policies, as well.

“This happens sometimes with both parties – they don’t want to admit their own party made some mistakes, and lots of mistakes were made here,” Ananich said.

Nessel is tapping Kym Worthy for the special prosecutor position, though the latter hasn’t yet accepted the offer. She’s now the prosecutor in a county that’s home to Detroit, and experts say is trusted locally after handling other complex, situations. That includes successfully processing a backlog of 11,000 untested rape kits discovered in a Detroit police station in 2010, and the successful prosecution of two white police officers who in 1992 beat to death a black man, Malice Green.

A Nessel spokesperson declined to comment, but Nessel said of Worthy in a press release: “There is no one whose opinion I value more when it comes to the complexity and importance of these cases.”

Nessel’s office hasn’t said who else could be charged should Worthy or another special prosecutor take over the case. Charges could also be dropped. During her campaign, Nessel criticized Schuette for paying Flood an hourly rate, which she said incentivized “the charging of unsustainable cases” and other measures to drag out the process.

She also questionedFlood’s impartiality. He was appointed to investigate Snyder and his administration, even though he’s a Snyder campaign donor.

On the civil side, Schuette has argued the state doesn’t have a constitutional obligation to provide clean water, and it has been difficult for those suing the government to get around the defense of sovereign immunity, which shields officials from legal responsibility. In one of the largest civil cases, a federal judge granted immunity to Snyder, high ranking environmental officials and an emergency financial manager.

That case consists of 12 class action suits consolidated into one large suit. Plaintiffs are asking for an independent monitor to ensure state health and environmental departments are complying with court orders. They’re also seeking the establishment of a fund for 100,000 people affected by the crisis.

The plaintiff’s co-counsel, Michael Pitt, says he’s more confident that victims will see some justice now that Nessel is in charge.

“She’s very dedicated to the goal of making sure the victims of state abuse and government abuse are taken care of in the proper way,” he said.

Still, the damage is so far-reaching that it’s going to be difficult to repair, said Peter Henning, a Wayne State University Law School professor and former federal prosecutor. “How much is the state willing to commit?” Henning asked.

“That’s the issue. Leaving all the legal niceties aside, how much is the state willing to pay?”</s>DETROIT (AP) — Michigan's attorney general in 2016 promised to investigate "without fear or favor" the scandal over Flint's lead-tainted drinking water and pledged that state regulators would be locked up for fudging data and misleading the public.

Yet three years later, no one is behind bars. Instead, seven of 15 defendants have pleaded no contest to misdemeanors, some as minor as disrupting a public meeting. Their records eventually will be scrubbed clean.

That has angered some people in Flint who believe key players who could have prevented the lead disaster are getting off easy. Four of five people at the state Department of Environmental Quality who were on the front line of the crisis have struck deals. The remaining cases mostly center on a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease and early disastrous decisions to use water from the Flint River.

"I'm furious – absolutely furious," said LeeAnne Walters, a mother of four who is credited with exposing the lead contamination. "It's a slap in the face to every victim in the city of Flint."

Walters, 40, said she was repeatedly brushed off by the Department of Environmental Quality, known as DEQ, even as she confronted officials with bottles of brown water. She testified in Congress after then-Gov. Rick Snyder in 2015 finally acknowledged the lead mess, and she later was honored with an international prize for grassroots environmental activism.

"Instead of people being held accountable, they're getting a free pass," Walters said. "The fact remains there wouldn't have been a problem with the lead and the legionella if the water had been treated properly, if MDEQ would have done their job."

Flint was one of the worst man-made environmental disasters in U.S. history. While waiting for a new pipeline to bring water from Lake Huron, the majority-black city of 100,000 pulled water from a river in 2014-15 without treating it to reduce corrosive effects on old pipes. Lead infected the distribution system in Flint, where 41 percent of residents are classified by the government as living in poverty.

Due to poor finances, Flint was being run by financial managers appointed by the governor. The uproar over water quality reached a peak by fall 2015 when a doctor reported high levels of lead in children, which can cause brain damage. The water no longer comes from the river and has significantly improved, but some residents are so distrustful that they continue to use bottled water.
15 officials are charged for involuntary manslaughter and other crimes related to the Flint water crisis, in which contaminated sparked a outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.