Criminal charges filed in Flint, Michigan water crisis

DETROIT - Three Michigan state and local officials were criminally charged on Wednesday in connection with the state attorney general's investigation into dangerous lead levels in Flint's drinking water, a crisis that has fueled widespread public outrage, according to local media reports.

Genesee District Judge Tracy Collier-Nix authorized charges against Flint employee Michael Glasgow and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Steven Busch and Michael Prysby, The Detroit News and Mlive reported.

Attorney General Bill Schuette in January named a special prosecutor to lead a team to probe whether criminal charges should be filed in the water crisis.

Collier-Nix could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the Michigan attorney general, which has scheduled a Wednesday afternoon news conference to make an announcement related to its probe of the crisis, would neither confirm nor deny the charges.

The three people allegedly charged could not immediately be reached for comment.

Glasgow is accused of tampering with evidence when he allegedly changed testing results to show there was less lead in city water than there actually was, local media reported. He also was charged with willful neglect of office.

Busch and Prysby were charged with misconduct in office, conspiracy to tamper with evidence, tampering with evidence, a treatment violation of the Michigan Safe Drinking Water Act and a monitoring violation of the Safe Drinking Water, local media reported.

None of the individuals in the case have been arraigned, local media reported. The Detroit News, citing a source, said more indictments would be filed.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman; Editing by Diane Craft)