After her arrest, she received support from her parents, who showed up to her court appearances, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported. The surveillance of the chemists as well as the standards and the confiscated drugs has also been increased considerably. Thousands to split $14M in Mass. drug lab scandal settlement their crimes under the rug without addressing how their actions affected the defendants who were convicted based on their drug testing. PDF United States Court of Appeals Unfortunately, Stanley passed away in 2015. How to Fix A Drug Scandal takes a one-woman issue in a crumbling police drug lab and follows the way it blew up an entire legal system. She said it gave me the desired effects. 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. We have got you covered in that regard. April 1, 2020. 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 staff in the new lab was also doubled, and the number of trainees was also increased. Many people watching the show are wondering: where is Sonja Farak now? More cases connected to Sonja Farak's drug lab work expected to be Massachusetts prosecutor tied to Sonja Farak drug lab scandal 'actively "No reasonable individual could have failed to appreciate the unlawfulness of [Kaczmarek's] actions in these circumstances," Robertson wrote in her ruling. Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. Where is Farak today? She started bringing drugs home, and doing them first thing in the morning. Class members can also call 1-833-630-1415 for information in both English and Spanish. Though the four-part documentary series interviews some of Farak's family members, she does not appear in it herself. Linda Farak is currently in her 60s. He went to bat for clients who were affected by both Farak and Dookhans misconduct. While I certainly think her longstanding refusal to acknowledge what she was doing comprised the rights of lots of people, I have sympathy for a human being who is struggling with a very difficult addiction, he said. and landed a job at the Amherst state drug lab, Farak still felt "alien and unseen, a ghost floating through her own life," per Rolling Stone. Audiences also hear from Farak's mother and sister who have never spoken to the press before. This first-time event, brought to you by GBH in partnership with NPR, PBS and stations across the country, is a celebration of all that #PublicMediaGives people everywhere. Damning evidence reveals drug lab chemist Sonja Farak's addictions. Sonja Farak faced new drugs civil court case after crack jail shame and Despite being a star child of the family, Sonja suffered from the mental illnesses that haunted her even in adulthood. Thats when she found a home working at a lab in the Morrill Science Building on the UMass Amherst campus. She started skimming small amounts of drugs, but soon, she was falsifying evidence and cooking crack cocaine in the evidence lab. General drug lab cases information. And now, three state prosecutors who investigated Farak are under investigation themselves by the states Board of Bar Overseers for their early handling of evidence. Months before Faraks misconduct came to light in 2013, another lab technician named Annie Dookhan was arrested in 2012 after it became apparent that she wasnt even testing the drug evidence; rather, she just marked results as positive so that she could impress her colleagues with her speed and efficiency. The charges against Penate were dismissed after Farak's conviction. Original release. In fact, she was highly accomplished before all her struggles. Penate is just one of the thousands of people whose cases were affected by Faraks actions. She was sentenced in January 2014 after she pled guilty to four counts of theft of a controlled substance from an authorized dispensary, four counts of tampering with evidence and two counts of cocaine possession. She began working there in 2004 and enjoyed that it was more laid back than the job at Hinton. 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. In the aftermath of Farak's arrest, it's been argued that because she was under the influence, all of the cases she tested could be considered to have been wrongfully convicted. Sonja Farak in court in 2014.. The people who were involved in this will finally get justice, Westcott said. READ NEXT: Sonja Farak: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Those receiving notices had their criminal convictions dismissed because evidence in their cases was tainted by the misconduct of former state chemists Annie Dookhan and Sonja Farak. I think it's very painful to be Sonja and I regret having to advocate against her, Ryan said in the docuseries. While Farak kept her drug use isolated to work only at first, her use still spilled out. Where Is Sonja Farak From 'How To Fix A Drug Scandal' Now? - Women's Health Initially, she had represented herself in answer to the complaints lodged against her, but later, she turned to Susan Sachs, who represented her since, not just on the Penate lawsuit, but also on any other case that emerged as the result of her actions in Amherst. When Farak was arrested,former Attorney General Martha Coakley told the public investigators believed Farak tampered with drugs at the lab for only a few months. Criminal. The newest true crime series from Netflix, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, was released on April 1, 2020. Now the Board of Bar Overseers special hearing officer concluded that there were numerous lapses, oversights, intentional misconduct and rule violations by Kaczmarek, Verner and Foster. The scandal led to the dismissal of thousands of drug convictions. I mean she could have been my client.". Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. As shown in the docuseries, she testified that her childhood was normal and middle class. Former chemist Annie Dookhan was convicted in 2013 on charges of improperly testing drug evidence at a drug lab in Boston. PDF Applying Routine Activity Theory: A Case Study of the Sonya Farak Drug Where Is Sonja Farak From Netflix's 'How To Fix A Drug Scandal' Now, And What Happened To Her? She shone academically as well. In the series, it's explained that Farak loved the energy the meth gave her. With her response, she only listed a Hatfield, Mass. The number is 888-999-2881. According to a Rolling Stone profile on Farak and the case, the former chemist has not been heard from since her release. That is as much public exposure as shes opened herself up to since her release from jail. Farak was well (Long, 2021) educated, participated in sports, was married, owned a home, did not have a criminal record, and held a respectable job . Here's Where Sonja Farak Is Now, After 'How to Fix a Drug Scandal' Sonja Farak Today: Where Is She Now? | Heavy.com Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. She said, It was about coping; it certainly wasnt about having fun; I dont think shes had fun in quite a while.. Farak worked for the Amherst Drug Lab in Massachusetts for 9 years when she was convicted of stealing and using them. Carr, who has been public about her past personal battles with alcohol misuse said that it takes both strength and a very specific type of person to hide such intense substance use for so long. 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The latest true crime offering from Netflix is the documentary series How to Fix a Drug Scandal. It dives into the story of Sonja Farak, a chemist who worked for a Massachusetts state drug lab and got arrested for taking the drugs she was testing as well as tampering with evidence. She has pledged to dismiss Suffolk County drug convictions an estimated 74,800 for anyone whose drug certification was done at the Hinton Lab between May 2003 and August 2012. Chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan tampered with evidence and even used narcotics. 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. Farak was born in San Diego, California and within a year her family moved to Newport, Rhode Island after her Navy father was transferred to the east coast.
