The Flint Water Plant tower.
The Flint Water Plant tower.
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Under the deal, Michael Glasgow will plead no contest to willful neglect of duty

Plea will be held for one year, contingent on Glasgow cooperating in the investigation, officials say

CNN  — 

Michael Glasgow, a former Flint city employee charged in connection with the city’s water crisis, has reached a deal with prosecutors.

Glasgow tampered with a 2015 report, “Lead and Copper Report and Consumer Notice of Lead Result,” and failed to perform his duties as a treatment plant operator, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office said.

Under the terms of the deal, the felony charge of tampering with evidence was dismissed.

In exchange, Glasgow gave a plea of no contest to willful neglect of duty, a misdemeanor, citing reasons of possible civil liability, according to his attorney, Robert Harrison.

Mike Glasgow.
Mike Glasgow.
Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press/TNS/Getty Images

But the plea will be held for one year, contingent on Glasgow cooperating as a witness in the investigation, according to a statement from Andrea Bitely, communications director for the Michigan attorney general.

Prosecutors said in court part of the deal is that Glasgow agrees to cooperate with the investigation.

Glasgow told CNN in a March interview he was instructed by Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Stephen Busch and Mike Prysby to alter water quality reports and remove the highest lead results.

Busch and Prysby have also been charged in connection with the Flint water crisis.

The maximum penalty for the neglect of duty charge is one year, according to Bitely.

Glasgow was released on a personal bond. A status check will take place every three months to confirm Glasgow’s continued cooperation.

Last year researchers and medical personnel discovered high levels of lead in Flint residents, especially children. Lead has been tied to a host of medical problems, especially in the nervous system.

The problem occurred after the city switched its water source about two years ago to cut costs. Flint used to buy Lake Huron water through the city of Detroit but the state ordered the source changed to water from the Flint River.

The city switched back to the Lake Huron water supply in October.

In January, the governor declared a state of emergency.

Who’s been charged, who hasn’t

CNN’s Sarah Jorgensen and Dominique Dodley contributed to this report.