Today, Attorney General Bill Schuette announced the third legal action on his Flint Water Investigation, filing eighteen criminal charges against four current and two former employees from two state departments.  The charges stem from the alleged actions taken by officials at the Departments of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Health and Human Services (DHHS), which according to the Attorney General contributed to the Flint water poisoning crisis by withholding vital information from the public about ongoing lead poisoning and allowing the continued distribution of corrosive water from the Flint Water Treatment Plant. 

The charges include twelve felonies and six misdemeanors and were filed in Genesee County’s 67^th District Court in Flint against six individual, three from DEQ and three from DHHS.  Those charged include the former Chief of the Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance; the Director of the DHHS Program for Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting; the Data Manager for the Health Homes and Lead Prevention program; amongst others.  All have been charged with Misconduct in Office, Conspiracy, and Willful Neglect of Duty, while one defendant was additionally charged with Tampering with Evidence.  The charges against the DHSS defendants allege they discovered that Flint children were being poisoned by lead but suppressed that information, keeping it from reaching doctors and health officials who sought to protect the welfare of the children and citizens of Flint.  DEQ defendants are being charged with allegedly failing in their duties to ensure the provision of safe drinking water and worked to make sure the Flint Water Treatment Plant stayed up and running regardless of the outcome or warning signs its operation was resulting in water poisoned with lead.

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