Skip in Skip x Embed x Share CLOSE Attorney General Bill Schuette on Friday charged six more state employees with felonies for their alleged role in Flint's water contamination. Chad Livengood, The Detroit News 
 
 From the campus of University of Michigan, Flint, MI., Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, right, announces 18 additional charges against four current and two former employees from two state departments in dealing with Flint water July 29, 2016. With him are Chief Investigator, FBI Special Agent Andy Arena, center, and Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton, left. (Photo: John M. Galloway, Detroit News) 
 
 Flint — Criminal charges leveled Friday against six current and former state employees center around allegations they altered or concealed alarming reports showing high levels of toxic lead in Flint’s water and the bloodstreams of the city’s children. 
 
 Attorney General Bill Schuette’s prosecutors contend much of the cover-up occurred on or around the same day in late July last year. 
 
 At the Department of Health and Human Services, prosecutors allege employees Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott “buried” an epidemiologist’s July 28, 2015, report showing a significant year-over-year spike in blood lead levels in Flint children. 
 
 Corrine Miller, the state’s top epidemiologist, later ordered a DHHS employee to delete emails about that July 28 report and prevented action to alert top state health officials and the public, Schuette said. 
 
 A Genesee County judge on Friday authorized charges against Miller, Peeler and Scott for misconduct in office, conspiring to commit misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty related to allegedly concealing or disregarding the test results. 
 
 Special Prosecutor Todd Flood’s investigation also found that on same date, three municipal water regulators at the Department of Environmental Quality altered a water-testing report to exclude some samples to keep overall lead levels under the federal limit. 
 
 Schuette filed charges against DEQ water quality analyst Adam Rosenthal on Friday for allegedly altering the report in coordination with water regulators Stephen Busch and Michael Prysby, who were charged with similar misconduct crimes in April as part of the attorney general’s wide-ranging investigation. 
 
 “These individuals concealed the truth,” Schuette said. “They were criminally wrong to do so.” 
 
 Flood said Friday he’s still exploring whether there was active coordination between the two state agencies last summer to cover-up the lead contamination months before it exploded into an unprecedented public health crisis. 
 
 “You have two agencies manipulating reports on the same day,” Flood said at a news conference announcing the new criminal charges. “In that lock step going to stage left, that seems significant to me. But I’m going to let that play out in our investigation and in the courtroom.” 
 
 In addition to Rosenthal, Schuette on Friday filed criminal charges against DEQ water regulator Patrick Cook and fired municipal water chief Liane Shekter Smith. 
 
 Genesee County District Judge Nathaniel C. Perry III authorized the charges and warrants for the arrests of the six current and former state employees Friday morning. 
 
 Schuette said arrogance and viewing people in Flint as expendable were the motives of the employees criminally charged. 
 
 “Their offenses vary but there is an overall theme and repeated pattern,” Schuette said. “Each of these individuals attempted to bury, or cover up, to downplay or hide information that contradicted their own narrative their story. Their story was there was nothing wrong with Flint water and it was perfectly safe to use.” 
 
 Flint Mayor Karen Weaver said she appreciated the move to hold people accountable. 
 
 “The decision to file more criminal charges today is hopefully another step toward justice for the City of Flint,” she said in a statement. “Still, it's sad to think people hired to make sure standards are met may have known there was a problem with the water in Flint.” 
 
 Charges against DHHS’ Peeler and Scott center around a report epidemiologist Cristin Larder prepared on July 28, 2015, showing elevated blood lead levels compared to the summer of 2014, according Jeff Seipenko, an investigator in Schuette’s office. 
 
 “Instead of releasing the report that indicated a significant problem, (Peeler) buried it and produced a bogus report that she and Robert Scott prepared,” Schuette said Friday. 
 
 Scott and Peeler work in the health department’s childhood lead poisoning prevention program. The attorney general’s investigation found the pair created a “non-scientific” graph illustrating lead levels in Flint children without applying a proper statistical analysis, Seipenko said. 
 
 “Peeler, relying on this unscientific graph, drafted and sent an unfounded email to MDHHS management that inappropriately concluded that the switch in water sources was not the cause of elevated lead levels in Flint children,” Seipenko told Perry in court on Friday. 
 
 Miller, then director of the bureau of epidemiology, allegedly ordered a DHHS employee to “take no action and disregard Larder’s findings,” Seipenko said. 
 
 “This put the children of Flint in the cross hairs of drinking poison,” Schuette said. “They ignored them and ignored the truth about what was happening in the city of Flint.” 
 
 Rosenthal faces charges of misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence and or engage in misconduct, tampering with evidence and willful neglect of duty of a public official. He was in charge of monitoring Flint’s water testing reports between April 2014 and October 2015 when the city used corrosive Flint River water. 
 
 “Emails have revealed that defendant Rosenthal and others intentionally manipulated Lead and Copper Rule monitoring reports to conceal the fact that the lead level in the water being consumed by the citizens of Flint exceeded the action level of 15 parts per billion,” Seipenko said. 
 
 “Despite knowing the water distributed by the Flint Water Treatment posed significant health risks to the citizens of Flint, defendant Rosenthal disregarded his public duties and took no affirmative action to protect the public health.” 
 
 Cook, a water treatment engineer, was charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to engage in misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty for allegedly working with Rosenthal to manipulate a Lead and Copper Rule report on the levels of lead in Flint’s water last summer, Seipenko said. 
 
 Cook was in charge of interpreting the federal Lead and Copper Rule and “misled” the Environmental Protection Agency about how Flint’s water was being treated, Seipenko said. 
 
 DEQ emails released by Gov. Rick Snyder’s office have shown that Cook actively dismissed concerns raised in April 2015 by EPA lead expert Miguel Del Toral about Flint’s lack of corrosion control chemicals that prevent lead from leaching into the water from old pipes. 
 
 “The constant second-guessing of how we interpret and implement our rules is getting tiresome,” Cook said in an April 27, 2015 internal DEQ email. 
 
 Cook proposed silencing Del Toral, who has since been hailed as a whistleblower. 
 
 DEQ and DHHS released a joint statement Friday indicating Peeler, Scott, Cook and Rosenthal have been suspended without pay. Miller retired from DHHS in mid-April of this year, department spokeswoman Jennifer Eisner said. 
 
 Shekter Smith, the former chief of DEQ’s Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance, is the only state employee who has been fired for her role in Flint’s water crisis. She faces charges of misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty for allegedly ignoring mounting problems with river water between April 2014 and October 2015. 
 
 Liane Shekter Smith (Photo: Gary Malerba / Special To The Detroit News) 
 
 Before the presence of lead was exposed by Del Toral and Virginia Tech professor Marc Edwards, Flint’s water was brownish, foul smelling and hampered by spikes in E. coli bacteria and a carcinogen known as TTHM. 
 
 “Evidence has shown that throughout this time period, defendant Shekter Smith intentionally mislead and took affirmative steps to conceal from her supervisors at the MDEQ and the public the safety and severe health risk associated with using the water,” Seipenko told the judge on Friday. 
 
 In April, Schuette also filed criminal charges against Flint water utility administrator Michael Glasgow for his roles in not requiring Flint’s water to be treated with corrosion-controlling chemicals. 
 
 In May, Glasgow struck a plea deal with Schuette’s office, pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty after agreeing to cooperate with state and federal investigators. 
 
 DEQ employees charged 
 
 Liane Shekter-Smith, former chief of drinking water and municipal assistance, of Marshall 
 
 ■ One count of misconduct in office, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor 
 
 Adam Rosenthal, DEQ water quality analyst, of East Lansing 
 
 ■ One count misconduct in office, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor 
 
 ■ One count tampering with evidence, a four-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of conspiracy/tampering with evidence, a four-year felony 
 
 Patrick Cook, DEQ specialist for community water drinking unit, of DeWitt 
 
 ■ One count of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor 
 
 ■ One count misconduct in office, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of conspiracy, a five-year felony 
 
 DHHS employees charged 
 
 Nancy Peeler, director, program for maternal, infant and early childhood home visiting, of Midland 
 
 ■ One count misconduct in office, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of conspiracy, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor 
 
 Robert Scott, data manager for the healthy homes and lead prevention program, of Haslett 
 
 ■ One count misconduct in office, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of conspiracy, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor 
 
 Corinne Miller, former director of the bureau of epidemiology and state epidemiologist, of DeWitt 
 
 ■ One count misconduct in office, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of conspiracy, a five-year felony 
 
 ■ One count of willful neglect of duty, a one-year misdemeanor 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2atMPoE ||||| (CNN) Reports from two different Michigan agencies on the same day in July 2015 -- raising concerns about high levels of lead in Flint's children and in its water -- were altered or buried to cover up the Flint water crisis , according to state Attorney General Bill Schuette. 
 
 Six current and former state employees, including the woman in charge of drinking water quality, were charged Friday in a widening criminal investigation into the crisis. The allegations show a concerted effort to cover up warning signs of lead poisoning, according to prosecutors. 
 
 The investigation -- so far encompassing more than 200 interviews and nearly eight months -- is not over. 
 
 Additional charges could be forthcoming, Schuette told reporters, comparing the matter to a mob investigation, which never starts "at the top." 
 
 Prosecutors said the state Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Health and Human Services both altered and manipulated data, and advised others not to report problems, Schuette alleges. 
 
 "It looks pretty obvious," special appointed prosecutor Todd Flood said. "Two agencies manipulating reports on the same day, in that lock-step going to stage left. That seems significant to me, but I'm going to let that play out in the investigation." 
 
 Investigators said they have to be careful not to reveal too much detail as they move ahead. They've also responded to calls from some advocates for Gov. Rick Snyder to be charged with a single mantra: No one is a target, and no one is immune. 
 
 With the latest round of charges, a total of nine current and former state and local officials face counts ranging from willful neglect of duty to conspiracy over allegations they withheld information from the public about lead contamination in the city's drinking water. Three lower level officials were charged in the spring, and one is cooperating, Schuette said. 
 
 "The families of Flint will not be forgotten," Schuette said at a news conference. "We will provide the justice they deserve. And in Michigan, the justice system is not rigged. There is one system of justice. The laws apply to everyone, equally, no matter who you are." 
 
 Prosecutors say the investigation is on track to be the largest ever in the state of Michigan. 
 
 "Every time you turn the page you say to yourself you can't make this up," said Flood. 
 
 'Treated as expendable' 
 
 The highest-ranking officials charged Friday is Liane Shekter-Smith, former chief of the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. She is charged with one count of misconduct in office and one count of willful neglect of duty. 
 
 Shekter-Smith's name has already been raised in congressional investigations after Flint mother Lee Anne Waters alleged that Shekter-Smith bragged about silencing an EPA employee who leaked a 2015 memo about rising lead levels. 
 
 Charging documents now allege that Shekter-Smith took steps to mislead the public and conceal evidence, ignoring "reports that the (water) plant was out of compliance, lied that the plant was certified and lied to her superiors," according to Schuette. 
 
 Two of her employees also were charged. Water quality analyst Adam Rosenthal allegedly manipulated a report on July 28, 2015, which showed higher than acceptable levels of lead in Flint's water, according to prosecutors. 
 
 Another employee, Patrick Cook, community drinking water unit specialist, allegedly misled the EPA with false information. They are both charged with misconduct in office, a felony, and other misdemeanors. 
 
 A separate report at another agency, dated the same day, July 28, 2015, raised concerns about higher than usual levels of lead in Flint's children during the summer of 2014. Schuette said the report was "buried," never forwarded to health officials by Nancy Peeler, director of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program. 
 
 Another former MDHHS employee, Corinne Miller, allegedly told others not to take action, and instructed one employee to delete emails concerning the original blood lead data from July 28, 2015, officials claim. 
 
 A third employee, Robert Scott, data manager for the Healthy Homes and Lead Prevention Program, then created a second, "bogus" report, falsely indicating no significant rise in blood lead levels in children, according to Schuette. 
 
 Prosecutors said there was communication between Shekter-Smith at the MDEQ and the MDHHS officials on July 28, 2015. 
 
 Peeler, Miller and Scott each face one count of misconduct in office, one count of conspiracy, and one count of willful neglect of duty. 
 
 Attorney general doesn't mince words 
 
 When asked about a motive, prosecutors said it was arrogance. 
 
 "Part arrogance, part viewing people in Flint as expendable. Covering things up, hiding things," Schuette said. 
 
 Shekter-Smith's attorney, Brian Morley, declined comment. Attorneys for the others were not immediately available. 
 
 When Schuette in April announced charges against three other officials, residents called for more arrests. 
 
 Friday's charges stem from his long investigation of a crisis that began to unfold in spring 2014, when the state opted to switch the source of the city's water. 
 
 "The victims are real people, families who have been lied to by government officials and been treated as expendable," Schuette said. "But when our investigation is completed and our prosecutions are successful -- and we believe they will be -- then accountability and justice will be delivered to families of Flint and families of Michigan." 
 
 What is the crisis? 
 
 Two years ago, in a move to save money, the state switched Flint's water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River, a tributary notorious for its filth . The Department of Environmental Quality failed to treat the corrosive water, which ate into the city's iron and lead pipes, causing lead to leach 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. 
 
 It's a massive public health crisis that has drawn national attention, and there's plenty of blame to go around. Already one group of investigators has concluded that government at every single level failed Flint 
 
 Who were previously charged? 
 
 City employee Mike Glasgow and state employees Stephen Busch and Mike Prysby. 
 
 Busch, a district water supervisor for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and Prysby, a district water engineer, each face six charges. 
 
 Accusations include misleading federal regulatory officials, manipulating water sampling and tampering with reports. Busch and Prysby have pleaded not guilty. 
 
 Glasgow reached a plea deal on other charges. 
 
 Has anyone agreed to work with prosecutors? 
 
 Glasgow. 
 
 In May, Glasgow gave a plea of no contest to willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor, citing reasons of possible civil liability, according to his attorney, Robert Harrison. A felony charge of tampering with evidence was dropped. 
 
 Glasgow tampered with a 2015 report, "Lead and Copper Report and Consumer Notice of Lead Result," and failed to perform his duties as a treatment plant operator, the Michigan Attorney General's Office has said. 
 
 Glasgow told CNN that Busch and Prysby directed him to alter water quality reports and remove the highest lead levels. 
 
 What about the governor? 
 
 Snyder has maintained he has done nothing wrong. Snyder, a Republican, has withstood calls to resign over the water disaster. Residents have called for him to be charged. 
 
 "Was it actually criminal? Or was it poor decision-making?" Snyder said in April. "And again, I'm not looking for vindication. This is about getting to the truth, getting to accountability." 
 
 Schuette's office has said that the governor's private attorneys withheld certain documents from the investigation, and that some unnamed agencies weren't being fully cooperative. He also said internal state investigations were interfering with their ability to take statements from certain employees. 
 
 On Friday, Flood said there has been "great constructive dialogue" and "I'm hopeful that with the governor's team we will come to a meeting of the minds." 
 
 How is the water now? 
 
 The city switched back to the Lake Huron water supply in October. In January, the governor declared a state of emergency, one month after the city's mayor did. 
 
 President Barack Obama visited Flint in May and spoke after a briefing from officials on response efforts to the lead poisoning. After the session, Obama took a sip from a glass of filtered Flint water, insisting that residents should feel safe if they also drank water that had been filtered. 
 
 President Obama visited Flint in May. 
 
 Flint Mayor Karen Weaver spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday. 
 
 "The problems in Flint are not over," she said. "The water is still not safe to drink or cook with from the tap. Our infrastructure is broken, leaking, and rusting away." 
 
 On Flint's website, the city advises residents to "continue using water filters and bottled water while long-term solutions are being developed." 
 
 How many civil lawsuits are there? 
 
 More than 50 lawsuits have been filed since January. The state made the decision to switch the water source, but some lawsuits accuse the city of being complicit by not doing enough during the 18 months that residents received their drinking water from the Flint River. 
 
 In June, Schuette sued two companies that were assisting Flint with its water treatment process. The charges listed in the lawsuit include professional negligence, public nuisance and fraud. 
 
 Veolia, a French water company, called the suit "outrageous." 
 
 "The allegations against Veolia are false, inaccurate, and unwarranted," the company said in a written statement . "Sadly for the citizens of Flint and throughout Michigan, the lawsuit represents the latest attempt to deflect responsibility by government officials and representatives who caused and are responsible for this situation." 
 
 Texas engineering services firm Lockwood, Andrews and Newman, or LAN, said it did the work it was supposed to do in " a responsible and responsible manner ." 
 
 "Decisions not to provide appropriate corrosion control, which may have resulted in a decline in water quality, were made by the city and the (Michigan Department of Environmental Quality), not by LAN," the Texas company said. ||||| FLINT, MI -- Six more state employees were charged in connection to the water crisis in Flint. 
 
 Michigan Department of Environmental Quality workers official Liane Shekter Smith, Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook were all charged, along with Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller and Robert Scott of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. 
 
 Jeff Seipenko, a special agent with the Attorney General's Office, requested the warrants on Friday, July 29 before Flint District Judge Nathaniel C. Perry III. 
 
 State, feds concerned over ability of Flint to treat drinking water 
 
 Peeler, Miller and Scott were charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to commit misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty. 
 
 Shekter Smith was charged with misconduct in office and willful neglect of duty. 
 
 Cook is accused of misconduct in office, conspiracy to engage in misconduct in office and neglect of duty. 
 
 Rosenthal was charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence and neglect. 
 
 This is the second round of charges in connection to Flint's water crisis. 
 
 Flint water crisis: Criminal charges against three state and city workers 
 
 Three state and city employees were charged with felonies and misdemeanors in connection to the city's water crisis in April. 
 
 Flint employee Michael Glasgow and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Stephen Busch and Michael Prysby were the first charged in Attorney General Bill Schuette's investigation into the lead-tainted water in the city. 
 
 Schuette announced in April that he was filing criminal charges against two state Department of Environmental Quality Employees and one city employee for their roles in the water crisis. 
 
 Flint employee Michael Glasgow and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Stephen Busch and Michael Prysby were each charged with felonies. 
 
 Engineering firms 'botched' Flint water studies, attorney general says 
 
 Glasgow pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor in exchange for his agreement to cooperate with prosecutors. 
 
 The felony cases are still ongoing against Busch and Prysby. 
 
 Schuette also announced in June that his office filed a civil lawsuit against Veolia North American and Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, which were hired to conduct engineering studies on the city's water system. 
 
 Schuette's lawsuit accused Veolia and LAN of professional negligence and public nuisance. Veolia is also accused of fraud. 
 
 The firms have denied any wrongdoing. 
 
 Schuette has a news conference set scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to discus the charges.
– A half-dozen state employees in Michigan are officially in hot water in the ongoing investigation in Flint, Michigan, with the state's attorney general filing charges for their part in the tainted water crisis there, the Detroit News reports. According to testimony in Flint district court Friday morning, three workers in the state's health department—Nancy Peeler, Robert Scott, Corinne Miller—and three in the environmental office—water regulators Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal and ex-municipal water chief Liane Shekter-Smith—were hit with charges filed by AG Bill Schuette, per the Detroit Free Press. MLive.com reports that all six were charged with misconduct in office, with willful neglect of duty and various conspiracy charges also being assigned. Schuette filed criminal charges in April against two other state employees and a city water utility official. In the Department of Health and Human Services, alleged transgressions include reliance on shoddy data and hiding or ignoring bloodstream test results that indicated the significant presence of lead. Within the Department of Environmental Quality, accusations include workers manipulating water monitoring reports, purposely "misinterpreting" federal drinking-water standards, and trying to mislead the EPA, as well as suggesting ways to keep an EPA expert quiet about concerns. Shekter-Smith, meanwhile, is said to have turned a blind eye as evidence of water contamination became clearer. Meanwhile, per the Wall Street Journal, federal experts say filtered Flint tap water is safe to drink, but Mayor Karen Weaver noted Wednesday at the Democratic convention that the city's crisis is far from over. "Our infrastructure is broken, leaking, and rusting away," she said, per CNN.