Rolling Stone covered both drug lab scandals in 2018 and uncovered that Farak had suffered from depression for many years. Apart from the late Stanley Farak, it appears that Amy and Sonja make up the rest of Lindas family. .css-26w0xw{display:block;font-family:NationalBold,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-weight:bold;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:0;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-26w0xw:hover{color:link-hover;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){.css-26w0xw{font-size:1.18581rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0.625rem;}}@media(min-width: 40.625rem){.css-26w0xw{line-height:1.2;}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.css-26w0xw{font-size:1.28598rem;line-height:1.2;margin-bottom:0rem;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-26w0xw{font-size:1.575rem;line-height:1.1;margin-bottom:-0.5rem;}}How To Avoid Unexpected Health Bills. According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Farak graduated with awards and distinctions. I can guess that it has been very, very painful for her, she said. For her wrongdoing, Farak served 18 months in prison and was released in 2015. "Not only did I already put my life on hold for the years that I was using, but now I was ready to be a functional member of society and I was blocked from doing that because of these charges," Westcott said. 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 . She started bringing drugs home, and doing them first thing in the morning. She would conduct her work high on meth, cocaine, LSD and crack. Its unclear if she still owns the property and if she lives there now. YouTube In fact, she was the first girl in the state of Rhode Island to play high school football in a public school system. If you're on the prowl for . Kaczmarek also oversaw the prosecution for the attorney general's office in that case. "She's somebody that sort of shies away from press. 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. Farak used to take drugs that came in the lab for test of authenticity and used as criminal evidence. It is important to point out that Sonja Farak was considered a typical citizen as she did not fit the stereotype of a drug offender . You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Given the account that Farak was a law-abiding citizen, it is questioned as to how an educated person with a stable job would commit a crime of this magnitude. 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. It features the true story of Sonja Farak, a former state drug lab chemist in Massachusetts who was arrested in 2013 for consuming the drugs she was supposed to test and tampering with the evidence to cover up her tracks. 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. Deborah Becker Twitter Host/ReporterDeborah Becker is a senior correspondent and host at WBUR. Follow us so you don't miss a thing! From the start, we have recognized that defendants with vacated convictions should be refunded and are pleased to have engaged in a collaborative effort to reach a fair and efficient resolution for all involved.. Both were convicted of tampering with the drugs they were testing for evidence in criminal cases, resulting in the state Supreme Judicial Court dismissing tens of thousands of compromised criminal cases. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. A new documentary by Netflix 'How to Fix a Drug Scandal' looks at the . Magistrate Judge Robertson denied a request in Penate's lawsuit that Kaczmarek be prohibited from contesting the special hearing officer's findings. Former chemist Annie Dookhan was convicted in 2013 on charges of improperly testing drug evidence at a drug lab in Boston. Farak is amongst one of the 18 defendants battling the lawsuit filed by Rolando Penate. We have got you covered in that regard. In 2008, defendant Ricky Simmons pleaded guilty in the Superior Court to several drug crimes. Jared Fogle. During her trial, her defense lawyer Elaine Pourinski said that Farak wasnt taking drugs to party, but instead to control her depression. That's when rogue. I think that she was so adept at hiding her addiction for so long, her downfall sort of came as a surprise to her and to everybody.". Who is Sonja Farak? Personal life. Episode 1. She said early recovery was hard because finding employment and housing was difficult with a criminal record and having to pay court fees. She married Nikki Lee. For people with disabilities needing assistance with the Public Files, contact Glenn Heath at 617-300-3268. She suffered from substance misuse disorder and she was in the worst kind of place to try to combat that, defense attorney Luke Ryan told Oxygen.com. Release year: 2020. She was released in 2015. The lax security and regulations of the place and the negligent supervision of the employees and the stock of standards are the reasons why Farak was encouraged to do what she did. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! You can try, Judge dismisses 'qualified immunity' claim in suit against ex-prosecutor in drug lab scandal, Judge declines mass dismissal of cases from tainted drug lab, New Evidence May Implicate Additional Chemists In Statewide Drug Lab Scandal. After their arrests, prosecutors at the Massachusetts Attorney Generals office then. 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. Massachusetts officials are notifying more than 30,000 people who will share a $14 million dollar settlement for the impact of the states drug lab scandals a decade ago. The woman is older now and is perhaps trying to put the incident concerning her daughter, behind her. While Dookhan had tampered with evidence and indulged in dry-labbing, Farak stole from her workplace. Part of that process included having a conversation with Farak, though Carr couldn't capture it on camera. The last contact information provided by her, in response to Penates allegations, placed her residence in Hatfield, Massachusetts. There was something so tragic but also surreal about this story., She suffered from substance misuse disorder and she was in the worst kind of place to try to combat that, defense attorney Luke Ryan told, . She tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. 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. Though lawyers from the attorney general's office attempted to suppress evidence demonstrating Sonja's drug use actually went as far back as nine years, a group of defense attorneys committed to helping people who had been convicted based on Farak's testing results were eventually able to get their hands on evidence that would ultimately help dismiss more than 35,000 convictions. The lawsuit names Kaczmarek, Farak and three members of the state police. While she reached out to her family to let them know that the docuseries was coming out, she hasnt spoken to Farak and doesn't know much about her current life. She continued to experience suicidal thoughts, but instead of going through with those thoughts, she started taking the drugs that she would be testing at work. AG Healey has also dedicated her efforts to finding fair resolutions for all involved, including advocating for the dismissal of convictions impacted by (Annie) Dookhan and Faraks crimes, and ensuring certain fines and fees are returned to defendants whose criminal charges have been dismissed.. Farak pleaded guilty in 2014 of stealing drugs and tampering with evidence, setting off a second. The settlement also covers relatives of deceased class members. I was provided for in every way, Farak testified. (Courtesy Shawn Musgrave) For the first time ever, the board that disciplines attorneys is recommending a former Massachusetts prosecutor lose her law license for failing to turn over evidence that might have exonerated defendants. Thats when she found a home working at a lab in the Morrill Science Building on the UMass Amherst campus. I felt euphoric, Kogan wrote of Farak. According to a Rolling Stone profile on Farak and the case, the former chemist has not been heard from since her release. Farak was in her mid-thirties at the time. How to Fix a Drug Scandal: With Shannon O'Neill, Karl Kenzler, Paul Solotaroff, Jared Olanoff. Kaczmarek argued the findings are subject to appeal. The special hearing officer found Kaczmarek "displayed no remorse" and was "not candid" during the disciplinary proceedings. In four one-hour episodes, director Erin Lee Carr explores the case of Sonja Farak, a chemist at the state drug lab in Amherst, Massachusetts. After contemplating another suicide, she settled on drugs, and the fact that she had such easy access to it at her workplace made it easier for her to get lost in that world. She said it gave me the desired effects. 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. 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. Faraks wife had her own mental health problems, and according to Rolling Stone, Farak would have conflict with her wife every night at home. She purchased a home there in 2006. The process of reimbursing people for the biggest drug lab scandals in the nations history is moving forward. The disgraced chemist was sentenced to less than two years behind bars in 2014, following her guilty pleas for stealing cocaine from the lab. A pair of scandals at two state . You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. Kaczmarek argued for qualified immunity after she was sued by Rolando Penate, who spent five years in prison on drug charges in which the evidence in his case was tested by Farak. One of the reasons for the decrepit state and standard of the Amherst lab was the lack of funds. She's no longer in prison, as Farak has served her sentence. . But this wasn't the only drug lab scandal that would rock the state's criminal justice system. But it turns out that Farak was actually high while running some of those tests. Sonja Farak, 35, who worked at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory in Amherst, was arrested at her Northampton home Saturday night by Massachusetts State Police and is facing two counts of. 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. In the civil suit, she filed her own answer to the lawsuit and hired the services of attorney Susan Sachs. Dookhan was. Those are things that cause people, including my clients, to make choices that negatively impact themselves and others. their crimes under the rug without addressing how their actions affected the defendants who were convicted based on their drug testing. 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. Two drug lab chemists' shocking crimes cripple a state's judicial system and blur the lines of justice for lawyers, officials and thousands of inmates. Any uncashed checks will be distributed to Community Legal Aid, Inc., the Transformational Prison Project, and the Tufts Education Reentry Network program after one year. DA Ryan on Farak Investigation. Towards the end of the docuseries, we see her coming to terms with Sonjas indiscretions. The state and attorneys for some of the defendants agreed to a $14 million settlement to reimburse 31,000 defendants for post conviction-related costs, such as probation and parole fees, drug analysis and GPS monitoring. As the docuseries shows, she admitted to a therapist in 2009 that she had been struggling with addiction issues since 2005. The chemist, Sonja Farak, worked at the Amherst crime drug lab from 2004 to 2013 during which she was high almost every day. Her curiosity soon led to a regular drug habit. I was doing really well, Westcott said. Sonja Farak was born in San Diego, California and within a year her family shifted to Newport, Rhode Island after her Navy father was transferred to the east coast. They are the number one team in their division, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility at GBH, Transparency in Coverage Cost-Sharing Disclosures. 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 can't control how the public reacts to it.. She was arrested for tampering with evidence while abusing narcotics at work. The settlement is the result of a class action lawsuit seeking to reimburse those who had their cases dismissed. My findings, conclusions and credibility determinations above and below reflect that Kaczmarek not only failed to do this; she actively misled others in the AGO as to what had been produced to the DAOs.. Get all the latest from Sanditon on GBH Passport, How one Brookline studio helps artists with disabilities thrive. Faraks therapist, Anna Kogan, wrote in her notes that Farak was worried about Nikki finding out about her addiction as well as the possible legal issues if she were ever caught. In December 2020, he filed a motion for a new trial seeking to withdraw his guilty pleas on the basis that chemist Sonja Farak analyzed the drugs in question while she was employed at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute (Hinton . Create your free profile and get access to exclusive content. After high school, Sonja went on to major in biochemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts. I think it's very painful to be Sonja and I regret having to advocate against her, Ryan said in the docuseries. Even though Farak found a job after graduation and was settled down with her partner, she continued to struggle with depression and felt like a stranger in her body. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email.
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