FLINT — New charges are being sought against the state’s top medical executive, Dr. Eden Wells — bringing to six the total number of current and former government employees who could face a trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in connection with the Flint water crisis.

The announcement to pursue two new felony charges against Wells, including involuntary manslaughter, punishable by up 15 years in prison, and misconduct in office came during a hearing in Flint Monday.

Few details have been revealed about what led prosecutors to seek the additional charges.

Todd Flood, the special counsel hired by Attorney General Bill Schuette to lead the Flint criminal investigation, said Monday that he is seeking the charges “based on new review of other documents and testimony that came out last week.”

“Some revelations came up … that assisted us” during the preliminary examination of Nick Lyon, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, he said. Flood declined to elaborate.

Wells was in court Monday for her preliminary examination on charges issued in June: obstruction of justice and lying to a peace officer. The hearing, which determines if the case proceeds to trial, has been pushed back to Nov. 6.

“We were told only this morning that Mr. Flood proposes to file two additional charges,” said Jerold Lax, one of Wells’ attorneys. “And under the circumstances, we reluctantly agreed to an adjournment so as to be able to prepare.”

Judge William Crawford II of 67th District Court will determine whether to authorize the new charges at the conclusion of the exam, which is expected to span several days.

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After the brief hearing that ended Monday, Wells stood next to her attorneys and said, “I’m OK,” when asked how she was doing.

“She wishes she were in a position to simply perform her job,” Lax said. “But she’s doing quite well under the circumstances.”

Angela Minicuci, a spokeswoman for the state health department, said Wells and Lyon, who was previously charged with involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office, have Gov. Rick Snyder's full support.

"Both remain deeply committed to and actively engaged in leading the department to carry out its mission and values," Minicuci said in an e-mail.

Wells, who remains in her position of chief medical executive, is one of 15 people who have been charged criminally in connection with Schuette’s investigation since April 2016.

Wayne State University Law Professor Peter Henning said the latest turn Monday shows prosecutors are still developing their case, which he said isn't out of the ordinary given the breadth and the number of documents involved.

“This is such a complex situation that it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they are adding charges," said Henning, a former federal prosecutor. "They may dismiss some charges down the road.”

In June, prosecutors accused Wells of knowingly giving false testimony to an investigator and threatening to withhold funding from the Flint Area Community Health and Environment Partnership if it did not stop investigating the source of outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the Flint area. She is also accused of willfully making a false statement about the date she knew about the outbreak in Genesee County.

The disease, a severe type of pneumonia, started after Flint changed its water supply source to the Flint River in April 2014. It is linked to at least a dozen deaths in 2014 and 2015. Some experts have blamed the water change on increased cases, but the source of the outbreak hasn’t been definitely linked to it.

Prosecutors allege that Wells, who started her job in May 2015, lied when she said she had no knowledge of the outbreak until late September 2015 or early October of that year.

“Contrary to her testimony, defendant Wells knew about the outbreak as early as March 2015,” a court document filed in June said.

Her attorneys on Monday declined to discuss what Wells knew about the outbreak and when.

In a court document filed before Monday's development, Wells' attorneys said they will request that the court deny sending the case to circuit court for trial “both on legal grounds and insufficient evidence."

The AG's office is also pursuing involuntary manslaughter charges against four other defendants including Darnell Earley, former Flint emergency manager; Liane Shekter-Smith, former chief of the office of drinking water and municipal assistance within the Department of Environmental Quality; Stephen Busch, a former supervisor in the Department of Environment Quality, and Howard Croft, former Flint public works director.

All four had been previously charged with other crimes.

Flood said Monday that an 85-year-old man who was diagnosed with Legionnaires' disease in 2015 and died six months later remains the only victim "as of right now" in the involuntary manslaughter charge.

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com or 313-222-5144. Follow her on Twitter @elishaanderson

