The Michigan attorney general filed charges against six more state employees on Friday for their alleged involvement in lead contamination of the water supply in Flint, Michigan.

Three other employees were previously charged, bringing the total to nine.

Environmental employees face allegations of tampering with or altering lead in water tests, while those in the health department faced allegations of concealing tests that showed elevated blood lead levels. The multiple felony and misdemeanor charges carry sentences of one to five years in prison and fines of up to $10,000.

At least 33 US cities used water testing 'cheats' over lead concerns Read more

“Now, some may worry that the story of Flint will be slowly absorbed by world events,” said Bill Schuette, the Michigan attorney general, at a press conference Friday. “Nope, not on our watch. That will not happen. The families of Flint will not be forgotten; we will provide the justice they deserve.”

The charges stem from a criminal investigation launched in January by Schuette’s office, which created a team of roughly 20 full- and part-time investigators. Investigators have said the scope of potential criminal charges that could be considered include misconduct in office and involuntary manslaughter, and the inquiry continues. Schuette, who spoke last week at the Republican national convention, is viewed as a likely gubernatorial candidate in 2018.

The Flint water crisis began with an April 2014 decision by a state-appointed emergency manager to switch the city’s water source from Lake Huron water to a local corrosive river. The state’s environmental agency oversaw the switch and failed to require the use of corrosion control agents, which allowed lead to leach off water pipes and flow into households across the city. The glaring oversight wasn’t revealed until last summer.

Those charged Friday include health and human services workers Nancy Peeler, head of the childhood lead poisoning prevention program; Corrine Miller, a state epidemiologist; and Robert Scott, acting coordinator of the state’s childhood lead poisoning prevention program. They were charged with misconduct in office for “willfully and knowingly misleading [colleagues] regarding the reports of the increase in blood lead levels of children ... in and around Flint”.

The three state environmental employees charged are water regulators Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal and former state water chief Liane Shekter Smith. Rosenthal, in particular, was charged with tampering with evidence for “knowingly and intentionally” altering or destroying lead and copper test results on three occasions between February and August 2015.

Following the announcement, the state environmental and health agencies released statements announcing they would each be suspending two current employees without pay, while other employees no longer work for the departments.

The new charges come as Flint residents continue to flounder over the water crisis, with fears of long-term effects brought on by lead poisoning and an immense distrust of government officials who, for months, insisted the city’s water was safe for consumption. Officials said last month that water quality had improved, and that filtered drinking water for anyone is safe to drink. At the Republican convention, Schuette contradicted the advice and said pregnant mothers and those with newborns still shouldn’t drink the water.

Though officials representing Flint have praised the attorney general’s investigation, the city is far from having resolved issues stemming from the crisis.

“The water is still not safe to drink or cook with from the tap,” Flint mayor Karen Weaver said at the Democratic National Convention this week. “Our infrastructure is broken, leaking and rusting away. Our local economy, already down when the water crisis struck, struggles to rebound. And there are many more Flints across the country where environmental issues are hurting our kids and families.”

In April, the attorney general filed criminal charges against two state environmental employees and one city employee who Schuette said tampered with evidence, distorted lead results and failed to require the use of corrosion control chemicals that would’ve prevented lead from leaching off water pipes and flowing into Flint households.

The city employee, Mike Glasgow, struck a plea deal with Schuette’s office, and a judge took the agreement under advisement.

The governor has repeatedly apologized for the crisis, and, in response, the state legislature has appropriated over $200m to address the issue. A lengthy report issued by a Snyder-appointed task force assigned most of the blame to state officials, and found it was a significant case of “environmental injustice” brought on by intransigence and inction.

The allegations that state department of health and human services hid evidence of elevated blood lead levels were raised last December by researchers from Virginia Tech, who helped uncover the contamination issue. Researchers reviewed years of blood lead level data and found, in the months after the city switched water sources, a noticeable spike.

“They discovered scientifically conclusive evidence of an anomalous increase in childhood lead poisoning in summer 2014 immediately after the switch in water sources,” the Virginia Tech researchers wrote on a website created about their efforts, “but stood by silently as Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) officials repeatedly and falsely stated that no spike in blood lead levels (BLL) of children had occurred.”