Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. Sonja Farak, who worked as a chemist at the Amherst drug lab since 2004, was arrested in January 2013 after one of her co-workers noticed samples were missing from evidence. Stream GBH's Award-Winning Content For Parents And Children. As a teenager, she had attempted suicide. 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. Foster replied that because the investigation against Farak was ongoing, she couldnt let him see it. In 2017, a different judge ruled that Foster's actions constituted a "fraud upon the court," calling the letter "deliberately misleading." A Powerful EHR to Manage a Thriving Practice. She started smoking crack cocaine in 2011 and was soon using it 10 to 12 times a day. 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. In June 2017, following hearings in which Kaczmarek, Foster, Verner, and others took the stand, a judge found that Kaczmarek and Foster together "piled misrepresentation upon misrepresentation to shield the mental health worksheets from disclosure.". Regarding the cases that she had handled, the Massachusetts courts threw out every case in the Amherst lab during her tenure. Between Farak and Dookhanwho's also featured in How to Fix a Drug Scandal38,000 wrongfully convicted cases have been dismissed, according to the Washington Post. 3.3.2023 4:50 PM, 2022 Reason Foundation | The hotline is open Monday through Friday, from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Who is Sonja Farak? According to the notes, Farak thought it gave her energy, helped her to get things done and not procrastinate, feel more positive., Her partner Nikki Lee testified before a grand jury that she herself had tried cocaine, that she had observed Farak using cocaine in 2000, and that she had marijuana in her house when police officers arrived to search the premises as part of their investigation of Farak., In Faraks testimony during a grand jury investigation, she said that she became a recreational drug user during graduate school and used cocaine, marihuana, and ecstasy. She also said she used heroin one time and was nervous and sick and hated every minute of it [and had] no desire to use [it] again., Farak met and settled down with Nikki Lee in her 20s. TherapyNotes. Foster's first stepper ethical obligations and office protocolshould have been to look through the evidence to see what had already been handed over. Thus, only defendants whose evidence she tested in the six-month window before her arrest could challenge their cases. Since the takeover, the budget for all forensic labs across the state has been increased, by around twenty-five per cent. 3.4.2023 8:00 AM, Reason Staff The results of that intake interview and notes from several of Farak's therapists all detailing Farak's drug use going back years were obtained by defense attorneys on behalf of . Fortunately, the courts largely ignored this shallow investigation. On paper, these numbers made Dookhan the most productive chemist at Hinton; the next most productive averaged around 300 samples per month. Despite her status as a free woman (who has seemingly disappeared from the public eye), Farak's wrongdoings continue to make waves in the Massachusetts courts. In addition to ordering the dismissal of many thousands of cases, the Supreme Judicial Court directed a committee to draft a "checklist" for prosecutors, clarifying their obligation to turn over evidence to defendants. When grand jury materials were eventually released to defense attorneys, then, they did not mention that these documents existed. The special hearing officer found Kaczmarek "displayed no remorse" and was "not candid" during the disciplinary proceedings. And both pose the obvious question about how chemists could behave so badly for years without detection. Cleverly omitting pronouns, she wrote that "after reviewing" the file, "every documenthas been disclosed." "It would be difficult to overstate the significance of these documents, Ryan Farak was released from prison in 2015 and has kept a low profile since. In worksheet notes dated Thursday, Dec. 22, Farak Democratic Gov. Farak admitted to being on a list of drugs while working between 2004 and her 2013 arrest. His report deemed Dookhan the "sole bad actor" at the lab, a finding that remains disputed in some circles. After Faraks arrest in 2013, police found pages of mental health worksheets in her car indicating she'd struggled with drug addiction since at least 2011. When she got married, it turned out that her wife, too, suffered from her own demons, and their collective anguish made Sonja desperate for a reprieve from this life. Grand Jury Transcript - Sonja Farak - September 16, 2015 Contributed by Shawn Musgrave (Musgrave Investigations) p. 1. "he didn't request a warrant. ", Prosecutors maintained that Faraks rogue behavior spanned just a few months. The worksheets, essentially counseling notes, showed that Farak had been using drugs often on the job for much longer than the attorney general's office had claimed. Why Won't Maryland Sell Me a Goddamn Beer? The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in 2015by which time the current state attorney general, Maura Healey, had been electedthat it was "imperative" for the government to "thoroughly investigate the timing and scope of Farak's misconduct." (Conveniently, they also found a Patriots schedule from 2011 in the car.). email highlighted in the Velis-Merrigan report. Privacy Policy | Who is Sonja Farak, the former state drug lab chemist featured in the show? Damning evidence reveals drug lab chemist Sonja Farak's addictions. She said, It was about coping; it certainly wasnt about having fun; I dont think shes had fun in quite a while.. Massachusetts prosecutors withheld evidence of corrupt state narcotics testing for months from a defendant facing drug charges, and didnt release it until after his conviction, according to newly surfaced documents and emails. Her wrongdoings were exposed when unsealed cocaine and a crack pipe were found under her desk. 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. After graduating from Portsmouth High School, Farak attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she got a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry in 2000. Dookhan was now spending less time at her lab bench and more time testifying in court about her results. Four months after Ryan found the worksheets, Judge Kinder As federal food benefits decline, Mass. Or she just lied about her results altogether: In one of the more ludicrous cases, she testified under oath that a chunk of cashew was crack cocaine. The report The defense bar also demanded answers on how such crucial evidence stayed buried for so long. motion on behalf of another client to see the evidence. T he day Sonja Farak's world unraveled - the day a crack pipe and sliced evidence bags of cocaine were found at her workstation - started like many others: she attended court. Gioia called for evidentiary hearings so prosecutors can be asked about what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did with their knowledge., Luke Ryan, Penates trial lawyer, said that the state police officers working on the report failed to obtain an appropriate understanding of the events that transpired before they were assigned to this investigation.". As How to Fix a Drug Scandal explores, Farak had long struggled with her mental . Farak admitted in testimony that she began using drugs almost as soon as she started working at the Massachusetts State Crime Lab in Amherst. Farak is amongst one of the 18 defendants battling the lawsuit filed by Rolando Penate. concluded she was usually high while working in the lab for more than eight years before her arrest in January 2013 and started stealing samples seven years ago. It had no surveillance cameras, laughable security on evidence safes, and "laissez faire" management, which the state inspector general determined was the "most glaring factor that led to the Dookhan crisis. Join us. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the Amherst crime . Soon after, the state police took over the control, and the lab was moved to Springfield, where it remains under the supervision of the state police. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. ", The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts, for more than eight years. Still, the state was acquiring evidence. Name. In a 61 ruling by the Supreme Judicial Court in 2017, the defense bar, led by public defenders and the Massachusetts branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), won the dismissal of almost every conviction based on Dookhan's analysismore than 36,000 cases in all. Sonja Farak, a chemist with a longterm mental health struggle, is the catalyst of the story, but it doesn't end with her. For years, Sonja Farak was addicted to cocaine, methamphetamine, and amphetamines, the kind of drugs usually bought from street dealers in covert transactions that carry the constant risk of arrest. Verner's "marching orders," he later testified, were to prosecute Farak with "what was in front of us, the car, things that were readily apparent. The actions of Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan caused a racket of such a scale that the state had to recompense for it with millions of dollars and had to make a historic move in the dismissal of wrongful convictions. Maybe fatigue made them sloppy, or perhaps they actively chose to look the other way as evidence piled up about the enormity of Farak's crimes. Ryan finally viewed the file in the attorney generals offices in October 2014. Farak. In fall 2012, just five months before her arrest, Annie Dookhan confessed to faking analyses and altering samples in the Boston testing facility where she worked. "First, of course, are the defendants, who when charged in the criminal justice system have the right to expect that they will be given due process and there will be fair and accurate information used in any prosecution against them." Former chemist Annie Dookhan was convicted in 2013 on charges of improperly testing drug evidence at a drug lab in Boston. She was sentenced in 2014 to 18 months in prison and 5 years of probation. Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. How to Fix a Drug Scandal: With Shannon O'Neill, Karl Kenzler, Paul Solotaroff, Scott Allen. But she proceeded on the hunch that Farak only became addicted in the months before her arrest, and her colleagues stonewalled people who were skeptical of that timeline. She started seeing a substance abuse therapist around this time. Why did she do that and where has it left her? According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Farak graduated with awards and distinctions.
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