She received the American Institute of Chemists Award in her final year as well as a Crimson and Gray Award from the school a year before, which recognized her dedication, commitment and unselfishness in the enrichment of student life at WPI. A Rolling Stone piece on Farak also indicated that she graduated with high distinction from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Since her release, she has kept a low profile and managed to stay out of the public . Between 2005 and 2013, Sonja Farak was performing laboratory tests at a state drug lab in Amherst while under the influence of narcotics. another filing. When a Therapy Session starts, the software automatically creates a To-Do list item reminding users to create the relevant documentation. Where is Sonja now? The lone dissenting justice called the decision "too little and too late" and argued that the severity of the scandal required tossing all the cases. Sonja Farak, a chemist with a longterm mental health struggle, is the catalyst of the story, but it doesn't end with her. Heres what you need to know about Sonja Farak: Farak was born on January 13, 1978, in Rhode Island to Stanley and Linda Farak. Farak admitted to being on a list of drugs while working between 2004 and her 2013 arrest. The Hinton drug lab, operated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, appears to have been run largely on the honor system. Though. The last contact information provided by her, in response to Penates allegations, placed her residence in Hatfield, Massachusetts. The new numbers appear in a report issued by a court-designated "Special Master." Farak was arrested the next day, and the attorney general's office assigned the case to Anne Kaczmarek. Looking back, it seems that Massachusetts law enforcement officials, reeling from the Dookhan case, simply felt they couldn't weather another full-fledged forensics scandal. "Whether law enforcement officials overlooked these papers or intentionally suppressed them is a question for another day.". The prosecutors have been tied to the drug lab scandal involving disgraced former state chemist Sonja Farak, who admitted to stealing and using drugs from an Amherst state lab. (Featured Image Credit: Mass Live). Only a few months after Dookhan's conviction, it was discovered that another Massachusetts crime lab worker, Sonja Farak, who was addicted to drugs, not only stole her supply from the. Before her sentencing, Farak failed a drug test while out on bail, according to Mass Live. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Emma Camp After serving for 13 months, she was released on parole in 2015. A final decision is still pending and must be approved by the state Supreme Judicial Court. Instead, Kaczmarek provided copies to Farak's own attorney and asked that all evidence from Farak's car, including the worksheets, be kept away from prying defense attorneys representing the thousands of people convicted of drug crimes based on Farak's work. Kaczmarek argued before the BBO, and in response to Penate's lawsuit, that she was focused on prosecuting Farak and not defendants, like Penate, whose criminal cases were affected by Farak's misconduct. This past Tuesday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court filed a report saying that more than 24,000 convictions in 16,449 cases have been dismissed as a result of foul play by a former state drug lab chemist. Release year: 2020. They tend to be more freeform notes about the session and your impressions of the client's statements and demeanour. Like Hinton, the Amherst lab had no cameras. She started smoking crack cocaine in 2011 and was soon using it 10 to 12 times a day. Asked for comment, Foster in January objected through an attorney that the judge never gave her an opportunity to defend herself and that his ruling left an "indelible stain on her reputation.". Coakley's office finally launched a criminal investigation in July 2012, more than a year after the infraction was discovered by Dookhan's supervisors. This was not true, as Nassif's department later conceded. Penate and other defendants are asking see all of Fosters emails regarding Farak and other materials relating to the handling of evidence in the chemist's case. This story is an effort to reconstruct what was known about Farak and Dookhan's crimes, and when, based on court filings, diaries, and interviews with the major players. NORTHAMPTON Sonja J. Farak told a nurse at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee in December 2013 that she used methamphetamines and other stimulants "whenever she could get her hands on them." And since her job as a chemist was to test drug samples at a state drug lab in Amherst, that opportunity came daily. Dookhan's transgressions got more press attention: Her story broke first, she immediately confessed, and her misdeeds took place in big-city Boston rather than the western reaches of the state. Our streamlined software is accessible wherever and whenever you . Farak admitted in testimony that she began using drugs almost as soon as she started working at the Massachusetts State Crime Lab in Amherst. Kaczmarek argued the findings are subject to appeal. What Did Sonja Farak Do, Exactly? We couldn't do it without you. They were all rendered unacceptable. Even before her arrest, the Department of Public Health had launched an internal inquiry into how such misconduct had gone undetected for such a long time. Lost in the high drama of determining which individual prosecutors hid evidence was a more basic question: In scandals like these, why are decisions about evidence left to prosecutors at all? Magistrate Judge Robertson denied a request in Penate's lawsuit that Kaczmarek be prohibited from contesting the special hearing officer's findings. | Get all the latest from Sanditon on GBH Passport, How one Brookline studio helps artists with disabilities thrive. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the Amherst crime . She was released in 2015, as reported by Mass Live. Former chemist Annie Dookhan was convicted in 2013 on charges of improperly testing drug evidence at a drug lab in Boston. In November 2013, Dookhan pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence, and perjury. Farak was a former lab chemist at a lab in Amherst, Massachusetts and was convicted of stealing and using drugs from the lab where she worked. Her ar-rest led to the dismissal of thousands of drug cases in Massachusetts. Introduction. In her June 17 ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Katherine Robertson dismissed former Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek's claims of qualified immunity a doctrine that gives legal immunity to some public officials accused of misconduct. The place was closed as soon as Faraks crimes came to light. wrote she "tried to resist using @ work, but ended up failing." She received an email from a detective weeks after Farak's arrest containing detailed notes Farak made in conjunction with her own drug treatment, pointedly identified as "FARAK Admissions" but failed to disclose them for years. She first worked at the Hinton State Laboratory in Jamaica Plain for a year as a bacteriologist working on HIV tests before she transferred to the Amherst Lab for drug analysis. She is not active on any social media platform and has kept her distance from the press. Netflixs How to Fix a Drug Scandal tells the story of two women whose actions brought to light the negligence of the system that is supposed to deliver justice to everyone. "A forensic analyst responding to a request from a law enforcement official may feel pressureor have an incentiveto alter the evidence in a manner favorable to the prosecution.". High Massachusetts Lab Chemist Causes Thousands Of Drug Cases To Be Dismissed. B. ut when Penates lawyer tried to obtain the documents not certain what was in them before his clients 2013 trial, he was rebuffed by state prosecutors who said the papers were irrelevant according to emails included in investigative reports unsealed earlier this month. The responsibility of the mess that she created should also rest upon the shoulders of her workplace that allowed her the opportunity to indulge so freely in drugs in the first place. Who is Sonja Farak, the former state drug lab chemist featured in the show? Foster replied that because the investigation against Farak was ongoing, she couldnt let him see it. GBH News brings you the stories, local voices, and big ideas that shape our world. Four months after Ryan found the worksheets, Judge Kinder
", The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. Privacy Policy | One of the reasons for the decrepit state and standard of the Amherst lab was the lack of funds. After high school, Sonja went on to major in biochemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts. The premise revolves around documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr following the effects of crime drug lab chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan and their tampering with evidence and its aftereffects.. Dookhan was accused of forging reports and tampering with samples to . After she was caught, Farak pleaded guilty to stealing drugs from the lab and was sentenced to prison time of 18 months. She consumed meth, crack cocaine, amphetamines, and LSD at the bench where she tested samples, in a lab bathroom, and even at courthouses where she was testifying. Reporting for this story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. The story of the intertwining Farak and Penate evidence began in January 2013, when state police arrested Farak and searched her car. A scandal erupts, raising questions for the thousands of defendants in her cases. Support GBH. Patrick appointed the state inspector general to look into it. Penate argued the court should follow those findings. Since the takeover, the budget for all forensic labs across the state has been increased, by around twenty-five per cent. Tens of thousands of criminal drug cases were dismissed as a result of misconduct by Dookhan and Farak. She stopped the interview when asked about crack pipes found at her bench, and state police towed her car back to barracks while they waited on a warrant. Netflixs How to Fix a Drug Scandal Story: 5 Fast Facts. Foster and another assistant attorney general assented to that motion. Robertson rejected Kaczmarek's claims she should not be held responsible for the turning over of exculpatory evidence because she was not part of the "prosecution team" in Penate's case.