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Officials: 3 to be charged in Flint water crisis

Posted at 2:18 AM, Apr 20, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-20 02:18:53-04

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s attorney general will announce criminal charges Wednesday against two state regulators and a Flint employee, alleging wrongdoing related to the city’s lead-tainted water crisis, according to government officials familiar with the investigation.

The charges — the first levied in a probe expected to continue — will be filed against a pair of state Department of Environmental Quality officials and a local water treatment plant supervisor, two officials told The Associated Press late Tuesday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

One official says the charges include violating Michigan’s drinking water law, official misconduct, destruction of utility property and evidence tampering.

A spokesman for Attorney General Bill Schuette declined comment.

For nearly 18 months, Flint residents used improperly treated water that leached lead from old pipes.