3 charged in Flint water crisis

(CNN) — Three government employees charged in connection with the Flint water crisis "failed Michigan families," and the charges against them "are only the beginning" of a lengthy and exhaustive probe, state Attorney General Bill Schuette said Wednesday.

While Flint residents have said they feel the criminality that led to poisonous water being pumped into their homes stems from the top, namely Gov. Rick Snyder's office, Schuette promised that no one guilty of wrongdoing would escape justice, no matter "how big a shot you are."



"No one is above the law, not on my watch," he said.

The attorney general held a news conference shortly after Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton announced the charges against Mike Glasgow, a former laboratory and water quality supervisor who now serves as the city's utilities administrator, and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality district water supervisor Stephen Busch and district water engineer Mike Prysby.

"They failed Michigan families. Indeed, they failed us all. I don't care where you live," Schuette said.








Charges against Glasgow

• Glasgow is charged with tampering with evidence, a felony, and willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor. The tampering charge carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

He allegedly 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, according to Schuette's office.
Glasgow told CNN last month that Busch and Prysby told him to alter water quality reports and remove the highest lead levels. Prysby and Busch could not be immediately reached to respond to the allegation, but an email sent April 17, 2014 -- eight days before Flint switched its water source -- seems to indicate that Glasgow had problems with the monitoring schedule and his staffing ahead of the switch.

"I do not anticipate giving the OK to begin sending water out anytime soon. If water is distributed from this plant in the next couple weeks, it will be against my direction," Glasgow wrote to state officials, including Busch and Prysby. "I need time to adequately train additional staff and to update our monitoring plans before I will feel we are ready. I will reiterate this to management above me, but they seem to have their own agenda."


Charges against Busch

• Busch is charged with misconduct in office, tampering with evidence, conspiracy to tamper with evidence -- all felonies -- and two misdemeanor violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, one involving treatment, the other involving monitoring.

The attorney general's office alleges Busch misled county, state and federal officials; conspired to manipulate monitoring reports; tampered with the 2015 report named in the charges against Glasgow; failed to use corrosion control treatment and/or refused to mandate the treatment once dangerous lead levels were detected; and he manipulated water samples by telling residents to "pre-flush" their taps the night before their samples were drawn and/or failed to collect required samples and/or removed results from samples to be included in the 2015 report.

A lifelong Michigander with a wife, two children and parents who live in Kalamazooo, Busch pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon and was released on a personal recognizance bond of $10,000 for each count against him.


Charges against Prysby

• Prysby faces the same allegations and charges as Busch, plus an additional felony charge of misconduct in office. That count states he authorized a permit to the Flint Water Treatment Plant knowing it "was deficient in its ability to provide clean and safe drinking water for the citizens."

That charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The maximum penalties allowed for the other charges against Busch and Prysby are five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for the misconduct count, four years and $10,000 for the conspiracy count, four years and $5,000 for the tampering count, and one year each for the Safe Drinking Water Act violations. The latter also carry $5,000 fines for each day the accused were found to be in violation of the act.

Prysby pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was released on a personal recognizance bond of $10,000 for each count against him.

Schuette noted that there are roughly 2.5 million documents in the case, and an attorney for Busch requested extra time to prepare for the probable cause hearing, which the judge set for May 4 for both men. A preliminary hearing will be scheduled at the probable cause hearing.


Residents want more charges

For some affected Flint residents, the charges don't go far enough, and they believe the criminality in this case reaches the top of state government.

Nakiya Wakes said holding three officials accountable "is a start, but only a start."

"I won't rest until the governor is charged. It was his person who pushed the change of water supply through and he knew there were problems but did nothing," Wakes said. "We are still suffering here. And his higher-ups in this mess need to be held responsible, too."

Laura McIntyre said it would be a "miscarriage of justice" if Snyder, the governor, isn't charged, and she worries that Wednesday's announcement of charges represented "just two to three people who will take the fall for actions that have included many, many more people. It definitely goes much higher."

She added, "This is exactly what we were afraid of. That it would fall down to a couple of individuals."
In addition to Snyder, she would like to see former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley charged for the decisions he made -- or precautions he didn't take -- in switching the drinking source.

Aaron Stinson says recent tests show he has lead levels almost double what is considered toxic. He suffers from various aches and pains and he flatly blames the drinking water and those who allowed that water to arrive in his tap.

"Look, in any organization decisions start from the top. It's all good and well to get the folks in the middle but we all know this started at the top and those top officials should also be charged for their role," he said, referring to Snyder and Earley.


Governor responds

In a statement released by his spokesman, Snyder said he has supported the probe and promised the state would pursue evidence of wrongdoing and hold those responsible accountable.

"The people of Flint and across Michigan are owed straight answers about how the Flint water crisis happened," the statement said.

Asked later at a news conference whether he did anything criminal, Snyder replied, "I don't really want to get into that kind of speculation. I don't believe so."

While the charges against the three men "are deeply troubling and extremely serious," due process will reveal whether anyone acted criminally, he said.

"What I've said consistently from the beginning is this tragic situation was the result of bad decisions by bureaucrats. Again, I always described it as people lacking common sense. This puts it in the context of criminal behavior," Snyder said. "Was it actually criminal? Or was it poor decision-making? And again, I'm not looking for vindication. This is about getting to the truth, getting to accountability."


The genesis

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 Michigan Department of Environmental Quality also failed to treat the corrosive water, which ate into the city's iron and lead pipes, causing lead to leach into the drinking water.

Also detected in the water were high levels of E. coli, carcinogens and other toxins.

More than 50 lawsuits have been filed since January, though one federal class-action was dropped Tuesday over a jurisdictional issue. Though the state made the decision to switch the water source, 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.

City employees were involved in treating water at the Flint Water Treatment Plant as well as in testing residents' water for the state.

One class-action lawsuit says residents have suffered skin lesions, hair loss, vision loss, memory loss, depression and anxiety. There are also concerns about miscarriages, imminent learning disabilities in children and Legionnaires' disease.


On the mend?

Though Flint's water supply is "definitely on its path to recovery," concerns about lead and other issues hinder the cleanup of the system's corroded pipes, according to the Virginia Tech researcher who exposed the water crisis in the city of 100,000.

Professor Marc Edwards said last week that lead contamination levels continue to surpass acceptable federal standards, and he urged residents to keep using bottled or filtered water for cooking or drinking.
"We're still drinking bottled water, using the filters to wash our hands, hoping that we're not being poisoned by the shower," McIntyre said.

The Flint resident worries about her family, especially her three children, and she said she hasn't seen any large-scale changes in her hometown.

"It's just been so discouraging and disheartening," she said. "We're exhausted and really nothing has changed. None of our pipes have been changed. It's like they're waiting us out ... waiting for us to quit."

Snyder caught heat this week for announcing he will drink filtered Flint water for the next 30 days. Snyder said he's doing it to "alleviate some of the skepticism and mistrust," but many on social media viewed it as an empty public relations stunt.