--- title: Six Michigan State Employees Criminally Charged For Flint Water Crisis description: Those charged include three Michigan Department of Health and Human Services employees and three Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees. canonical: https://time.com/4430614/six-michigan-state-employees-criminally-charged-for-flint-water-crisis/ author: Emma Ockerman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-29T15:33:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:39:34.827Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Six Michigan State Employees Criminally Charged For Flint Water Crisis og:description: Those charged include three Michigan Department of Health and Human Services employees and three Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees. og:url: https://time.com/4430614/six-michigan-state-employees-criminally-charged-for-flint-water-crisis/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt326ff5ab4105c4fe/6988a051ab6d77514f6aab8e/michigan_ag_bill_schuette_072916.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Criminal Charges Announced Over Flint Water Contamination Crisis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Six Michigan State Employees Criminally Charged For Flint Water Crisis twitter:description: Those charged include three Michigan Department of Health and Human Services employees and three Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt326ff5ab4105c4fe/6988a051ab6d77514f6aab8e/michigan_ag_bill_schuette_072916.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Six Michigan State Employees Criminally Charged For Flint Water Crisis ## Video: Flint: An American Crisis [Watch (HLS stream): Flint: An American Crisis](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QUcX4l6y.m3u8) (4:20)  _Published 2016-03-17. update_ by [Emma Ockerman](/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jul 29, 2016 3:33 PM CUT  Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announces that he filed 13 felony charges and 5 misdemeanor charges against two state officials and one city official as a result of their actions in Flint's lead water contamination crises April 20, 2016 in Flint, Michigan. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announces that he filed 13 felony charges and 5 misdemeanor charges against two state officials and one city official as a result of their actions in Flint's lead water contamination crises April 20, 2016 in Flint, Michigan.Bill Pugliano—Getty Images by [Emma Ockerman](/author/emma-ockerman/) ## Emma Ockerman Jul 29, 2016 3:33 PM CUT Six Michigan state employees were criminally charged in district court Thursday morning for “effectively burying” evidence in connection with the [Flint water crisis.](http://time.com/4187507/time-flint-water-crisis-cover/?iid=sr-link7 "undefined") The charged employees include Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller and Robert Scott, along with Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Leanne Smith, Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook, [the Detroit _Free Press_ reports.](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/07/29/6-state-employees-criminally-charged-flint-water-crisis/87697834/ "undefined") An agent with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office told the _Free Press_ that Peeler, Miller and Scott [“effectively buried” research indicating high levels of lead in children’s blood from July to September 2014](http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/07/29/investigator-workers-changed-reports-hid-data-flint-water-crisis/87702870/ "undefined"), and they face charges for misconduct in office, conspiracy to commit misconduct in office and wilful neglect of duty. Smith, meanwhile, was charged with misconduct in office and wilful neglect of duty, Cook was charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to engage in misconduct in office and wilful neglect of duty and Rosenthal was charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence or engaging in misconduct in office and tampering with evidence as a public officer engaged in wilful neglect of duty. The contamination of Flint’s [water dates back to April 2014](http://time.com/4189299/flint-water-crisis-congress-committee-hearing/?iid=sr-link10 "undefined"), when the [city switched its water supply from Lake Huron to the nearby Flint River](http://time.com/4381647/flint-water-crisis-lead-cdc/?iid=sr-link2 "undefined") to save money. The river water, however, was corrosive to the city’s pipes, which polluted the water supply with toxic levels of lead, leading to harmful health effects. The[ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported earlier this month](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/65/wr/mm6525e1.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6525e1%5Fw "undefined") that children from Flint under the age of six were significantly more likely to have elevated levels of lead in their blood after the switch. On Jan. 5, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder formally declared a state of emergency—months after testing revealed that the water was unsafe to drink. [Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette](http://time.com/4301418/flint-water-criminal-charges/?iid=sr-link1 "undefined") and Todd Flood, the attorney heading the state’s investigation into the crisis, will address the charges at a news conference Thursday morning. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4430614/six-michigan-state-employees-criminally-charged-for-flint-water-crisis/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4430614/six-michigan-state-employees-criminally-charged-for-flint-water-crisis/"},"headline":"Six Michigan State Employees Criminally Charged For Flint Water Crisis","datePublished":"2016-07-29T15:33:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:39:34.827Z","description":"Those charged include three Michigan Department of Health and Human Services employees and three Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees","url":"https://time.com/4430614/six-michigan-state-employees-criminally-charged-for-flint-water-crisis/","keywords":["Flint","Crime","Michigan"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt326ff5ab4105c4fe/6988a051ab6d77514f6aab8e/michigan_ag_bill_schuette_072916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Emma Ockerman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/emma-ockerman/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt326ff5ab4105c4fe/6988a051ab6d77514f6aab8e/michigan_ag_bill_schuette_072916.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Criminal Charges Announced Over Flint Water Contamination Crisis","caption":"Criminal Charges Announced Over Flint Water Contamination Crisis","creditText":"Bill Pugliano—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/flint/","name":"Flint"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4430614/six-michigan-state-employees-criminally-charged-for-flint-water-crisis/","name":"Six Michigan State Employees Criminally Charged For Flint Water Crisis"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Flint: An American Crisis","description":"update","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QUcX4l6y/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-17T19:45:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QUcX4l6y.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4430614/six-michigan-state-employees-criminally-charged-for-flint-water-crisis/","duration":"PT4M20S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4430614/six-michigan-state-employees-criminally-charged-for-flint-water-crisis/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```