Authorities also determined that Farak allegedly possessed what appeared to be Class A and B substances, the release said. It is still unknown whether the accusations against Farak will jeopardize other drug cases, and this most recent investigation is ongoing and is being treated separately from Dookhans. I think I make a strong case and advocate that humans are fallible and she needs to be given a second chance, but thats an unpopular opinion, and I cant control how the public reacts to it.. This documentary mini-series follows the stories of these two drug lab . This Board of Bar Overseers report comes as Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins last week said shes asking the states highest court to toss thousands of convictions for which evidence was processed at the now-disgraced Hinton lab. The surveillance of the chemists as well as the standards and the confiscated drugs has also been increased considerably. Her role was to test for the presence of illegal substances, which could be instrumental in thousands of drug related legal cases. | Powered by Artimization. While this series isn't fiction, it would've passed this infamous test if it was. 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. And yet, due to their actions, they did injure people and they did inflict a lot of pain, not just on a couple of people, but on thousands. Its unclear if she still owns the property and if she lives there now. A majority of the report focused on Kaczmarek, who was primarily in charge of the day-to-day handling of the Farak prosecution. Sonja Farak worked as a chemist for the state of Massachusetts, specializing in identifying illegal substances. One of the reasons for the decrepit state and standard of the Amherst lab was the lack of funds. A status hearing on Penate's suit, which was filed in 2017, is scheduled for July. 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. In January 2014, Farak, then 35, of Northampton, was given an 18-month jail sentence after pleading guilty to four counts of theft of a controlled substance from an authorized dispensary (the drug . Penate had been arrested in 2011 for selling heroin. After her arrest, in 2013, Farak told prosecutors she had become addicted to drugs while working in the lab and, over nine years, had taken meth, crack cocaine, amphetamines, ketamine and LSD in the lab's bathroom and at the bench where she tested. Where is Farak today? Only a few months after Dookhan's conviction, it was discovered that another Massachusetts crime lab worker, Sonja Farak, who was addicted to drugs . Dookhan, 34, faces charges in several counties in Massachusetts because she had previously testified in various trials in her former official capacity as a chemist. Since her release, she has kept a low profile and managed to stay out of the public . 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. The disclosure of potentially exculpatory evidence was particularly important, the report reads. 2. 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. The lawsuit names Kaczmarek, Farak and three members of the state police. Sonja received a job as a chemist at the Hinton State Laboratory building in Jamaica Plain after getting her college degree. An ex-lab chemist Sonja Farak's negligence and misdeeds shocked US when she was arrested in 2013 for stealing and using drugs from the lab where she worked. The medical records stated that she did not have an existing drug problem that was amplified by her access to more substances. Vizaca.com participates in many affiliate marketing programs & sponsored content which means we get paid commissions on products purchased through our links to retail websites. Every single day, Farak would get high; the chemist used the bathroom to smoke crack and the lab facilities to cook more. (857) 321-8360dmarx@fickmarx.comwfick@fickmarx.com. Farak has stayed sober, according to the docuseries. Sonja Farak, of Northampton, a former chemist at the state crime lab in Amherst, appears in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton in April 2013 for her arraignment on multiple counts of evidence . He recommended she lose her law license for two years; the Office of Bar Counsel later argued Kaczmarek should be disbarred. On further review, the Court ordered the automatic dismissal with prejudice of all cases tested at the Amherst Drug Lab between January 2009 and January 2013, effective December 13, 2018. Sonja Farak was released on parole in 2016 and has remained out of the spotlight ever since. Since then, she has kept a low profile. In her response to the lawsuit, Farak wrote: I agree that I began stealing and using the state labs supply of methamphetamine oil, but I do not recall if it was late 2004 or early 2005 so I cannot agree with the year stated.. A lock icon ( An investigation was immediately launched. According to an Attorney General Offices report, Farak attended Temple University in Philadelphia for graduate school, which is where she became a recreational drug user. When testing Penates sample a second time, Farak had taken LSD and the sensation of colors in the wind left her unable to function for work. Still, when Penates lawyers inquired about Faraks drug usage, the Massachusetts state prosecutors refused to give up information. She tested . "I was smoking in the lab, I was smoking at home. Disgraced former state lab chemist Sonja Farak leaves federal court in Springfield. Director Alex Gibney of Jigsaw Productions has been called "one of the most important documentarians of our time" by Esquire, and even The New York Times gave Gibney their praise. The documentary's director Erin Lee Carr revealed to Women's Health that she had actually met with Sonja to discuss the four-part series. Her role was to test for the presence of illegal substances, which could be instrumental in thousands of . They were all rendered unacceptable. The case notoriously involved a rare one . 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. 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. Money Heist season 5 on Netflix: Will there be a La Casa de Papel part 5? 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. 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. In the documentary, Heather Harris, a forensic chemist, states that drug chemists don't make for compelling television. Many people watching the show are wondering: where is Sonja Farak now? You can check your records electronically by following this link: Please do not include personal or contact information. For How to Fix a Drug Scandal, the story is about two women who start the scandals. Damning evidence reveals drug lab chemist Sonja Farak's addictions. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to the official website. The number is. Not only did she do this in the lab, but also in court whilst testifying in relation to cases. Mass.gov is a registered service mark of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Prev Next - Advertisement - Latest Stories . NEXT:How To Fix A Drug Scandal True Story: What The Documentary Leaves Out, 10 Things Everyone Completely Missed In Netflix's How to Fix a Drug Scandal, Top 10 Documentaries On Netflix Right Now (According To IMDb), The 10 Best Football Movies Ever Made, According to Rotten Tomatoes, Wicked Good: 10 Great Movies Set In Boston, How To Fix A Drug Scandal True Story: What The Documentary Leaves Out, Yellowstone's Dutton Family Tree Explained In Full, Witcher: Blood Origin Uses One NSFW History Detail Game Of Thrones Avoided, Fraiser Reboot Will Feature Some Original Show Cast Members After All. "As the gatekeeper to this evidence, she failed to turn over documents, and she adamantly opposed the requests for access. In 2017, Rolando Penate filed a $5.7 million lawsuit against 18 defendants, including Farak. 1. We will use this information to improve this page. The court will be sending notices to those affected by Ms. Faraks misconduct. Her parents were depicted as loving, and somewhat strict. Jon Taffer Net Worth: Who is Jon Taffer? YouTube Dry labbing is the practice of merely visually identifying samples instead of performing the required chemical test, the attorney general said. Sonja Farak. Yet, the cases of Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhanbecame "one of the largest mass dismissals of criminal convictions in United States history." According to the news release from the attorney generals office, workers at the Amherst laboratory contacted state police on Friday to report a discrepancy in the controlled substance inventory held in evidence. Where is Sonja now? (Approx.) (Featured Image Credit: Mass Live). She worked there for a year but soon understood she wouldnt make sufficient money there in the Boston area to buy a house. When she tried it she did so when others in the lab went out to lunch it met her expectations. General drug lab cases information. Farak, a chemist at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory in Amherst, was arrested in 2013. Did you encounter any technical issues? Discovery Company. A preliminary investigation found that Dookhan may have touched 60,000 samples that were involved in 34,000 drug cases. In the . According to a Rolling Stone profile on Farak and the case, the former chemist has not been heard from since her release. Given the account that Farak was a law-abiding citizen, it is questioned as to how an Lets find out. Now that her case has been brought into the public eye again since Netflix released How To Fix a Drug Scandal, many will be wondering what has happened to her. She had suffered from mental health issues throughout her life and, according to Rolling Stone, had tried to kill herself in High School. 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. 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. Because of Ms. Dookhan's misconduct, the Supreme Judicial Court ordered the dismissal with prejudice of thousands of drug cases. Rick is a Massachusetts native and graduated from Boston University. Without ever absolving these two women, Carr finds something tragic in . Please limit your input to 500 characters. Carr said shes been shocked to read angry reactions towards Farak over Twitter. Fick & Marx LLP Over 40,000 drug convictions were excluded due to Annie Dookhan and Sonja Faraks criminal misconduct (both were sentenced for their crimes). The Netflix show highlights not only the arrest and trial of Farak, but also the missteps taken by the state to ignore the extent of the cases affected by Faraks actions. I can guess that it has been very, very painful for her, she said. After serving just a year of her 18 month sentence, Farak was released from prison in 2015. Farak admitted in testimony that she began using drugs almost as soon as she started working at the Massachusetts State Crime Lab in Amherst. Who Is Sonja Farak And What Is Her Drug Scandal. Where is Sonja Farak now? Faraks sister Amy Farak said her sister outshined at sports. Money Heist season 3 recap: How did La Casa de Papel Part 3 end? READ NEXT: Netflixs How to Fix a Drug Scandal Story: 5 Fast Facts, Sonja Farak: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. In 2019, Sonja was seen leaving Springfield Federal Court but declined to speak to press. Her first doc was Thought Crimes: The Case . She married Lee after starting her job, but their marriage was rocky. How to Fix a Drug Scandal is an American true crime documentary miniseries that was released on Netflix on April 1, 2020. 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