Annie Dookhan and Sonja Faraks crimes undermined the integrity of our justice system and impacted thousands of lives, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said when the settlement was reached in June. The last contact information provided by her, in response to Penates allegations, placed her residence in Hatfield, Massachusetts. Audiences also hear from Farak's mother and sister who have never spoken to the press before. Powered by. Time to get involved and help public media make an impact. Share. 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. Her supply came from work itself; she would take drugs and use them and then replace the evidence bags with fake drugs. 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. .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. 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. A pair of scandals at two state . Farak apparently still tested each caseunlike Annie Dookhan, another Massachusetts chemist who was arrested five months prior to Farak for fabricating test results. It appears that Linda has Christianity listed as her religion, and is a Caucasian woman, who's registered as a Democrat. Episode 1. She cried as she was sentenced, Mass Live reported in 2014. Unfortunately, Stanley passed away in 2015. READ NEXT: Netflixs How to Fix a Drug Scandal Story: 5 Fast Facts, Sonja Farak: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Furthermore, she said she has been grappling with how the docuseries may have affected Faraks life. He said he feels she suffered from both a chemical dependency and a psychological dependence to the drugs. Sonja Farak (left) leaving the courthouse with her lawyer. Though viewers won't hear from Farak directly due to a pending civil case, the series paints a vivid picture of Farak's drug use through dramatization. The potential impact of Farak's malpractice is still being assessed by the district attorneys from counties that relied on the Amherst lab to handle evidence. March 9, 2021 Greater Boston Eight years since disgraced chemist Sonja Farak was arrested for tampering with evidence at a Massachusetts drug lab, the effects of her actions are still unfolding. Three prosecutors connected with the Amherst drug lab scandal failed to disclose evidence and engaged in misconduct, including one prosecutor who actively misled others, a scathing report states. READ NEXT: Sonja Farak: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Sonja Farak is at the center of Netflix's new true crime docuseries, How To Fix a Drug Scandal. DA Ryan on Farak Investigation. Sonja Farak during her arraignment at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown in 2013. Linda was born on 19th July 1951. In fact, How To Fix a Drug Scandal shows the Faraks at a football game after Sonja serves time for her actions. There was something so tragic but also surreal about this story.. But it turns out that Farak was actually high while running some of those tests. In fact, she was the first girl in the state of Rhode Island to play high school football in a public school system. Though the four-part documentary series interviews some of Farak's family members, she does not appear in it herself. that she spent a lot of time thinking about Farak and trying to humanize her. Filmmaker Erin Lee Carrs newest docuseries How to Fix a Drug Scandal shines a spotlight on misconduct on several levels but its primary focus is on a Massachusetts former drug lab technician named Sonja Farak. First Name Sonja. While what she did was wrong, many have been sympathetic to her plight. One thing that How to Fix a Drug Scandal makes clear is that it wasnt all Sonja Faraks fault. Don Treeger/The Republican via AP, Pool, File. According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Farak graduated with awards and distinctions. 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. The medical records stated that she did not have an existing drug problem that was amplified by her access to more substances. Personal life. The staff in the new lab was also doubled, and the number of trainees was also increased. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Nonetheless, she remains a private person and asks to be left alone. More than 24,000 convictions have been overturned as a result of her case. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email. She has since been one of 18 defendants facing a lawsuit by Rolando Penate, who claims they. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. In January 2017, after years of litigation, this Court established "a new protocol" for cases affected by the egregious misconduct of another former state chemist, Annie Dookhan. Ive been struggling with that, Carr said Its very uncomfortable and I dont know what its been like for her.. In Netflixs docuseries we get to hear from her sister, and mother, who give us an insight into Sonjas life, and how her actions impacted them. You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. She was arrested on January 19, 2013. According to a newspaper article from 1992, she was the first female in Rhode Island to be on a high school football team. In the civil suit, she filed her own answer to the lawsuit and hired the services of attorney Susan Sachs. 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. She was released in 2015, as reported by Mass Live. Sonja Farak in court in 2014.. Who is Sonja Farak? 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.". Farak also had an apparent obsession for her therapists husband, as she was reported to have a folder that shed put together about him, documenting her obsession. I felt euphoric, Kogan wrote of Farak. The woman is older now and is perhaps trying to put the incident concerning her daughter, behind her. During her trial, her defense lawyer Elaine Pourinski said that Farak wasnt taking drugs to party, but instead to control her depression. But I remember being terrified, sitting outside the courthouse hysterically crying. Her reporting focuses on mental health, criminal justice and education. As shown in the docuseries, she testified that her childhood was normal and middle class. (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. A final decision is still pending and must be approved by the state Supreme Judicial Court. Easy access to drugs and the lack of supervision at work allowed Farak to maintain and hide her addiction for several years. Erin Lee Carr On Directing 'I Love You, Now Die'. Shes a high school graduate. I was like, 'Why are they going to incarcerate me for money?' She purchased a home there in 2006. post office box as her contact information. The lawsuit names Kaczmarek, Farak and three members of the state police. Read More: Best Movies about Drug on Netflix. I mean she could have been my client.". Eight years since disgraced chemist Sonja Farak was arrested for tampering with evidence at a Massachusetts drug lab, the effects of her actions are still unfolding. She was sentenced to 18 months behind bars, followed by five years of probation and 500 hours of community services, the same year. Sonja Farak. After high school, Sonja went on to major in biochemistry at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in western Massachusetts. She Was Born in 1978 & Raised in Portsmouth, Rhode Island Farak was born on January 13, 1978, in Rhode Island to Stanley and Linda Farak. She played as the starting guard for Portsmouth High Schools freshman team. Farak was arrested in January 2013 for stealing drugs . The four-part investigation explains why the Massachusetts drug analyst fabricated evidence while working at the Hinton State Laboratory in Boston, and how her incompetence affected a subsequent scandal involving fellow chemist Sonja Farak in Amherst. More than 24,000 convictions have been overturned as a result of her case. "She isn't on drugs anymore, and I think that that is incredible," she says. She was struggling to suppress mental health issues, depression in particular, and she tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. She remained a football fan, and loved the Patriots. . Now, you might be curious about where Sonjas mother, Linda, is at the moment. Oxygen.com was not able to reach Farak for comment. 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. So she turned to drugs, which . 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. 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. Penate's suit said Kaczmarek withheld evidence that Farak used drugs at the lab for longer than the Massachusetts attorney general's office first claimed, and that he would not have been imprisoned based on tainted evidence. Though Farak was arrested in 2013 and sentenced to jail in 2014, the findings from the state's investigation into the scope of her misconduct were just released Tuesday. It was a slippery slope from there, as Sonja went from cocaine to crack cocaine and even LSD. While Dookhan had tampered with evidence and indulged in dry-labbing, Farak stole from her workplace. 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. Join us. (Netflix) A former state chemist, Sonja Farak, made headlines in 2013 when she was arrested for stealing and using drugs from a laboratory. A judge will hold a final hearing on the settlement in October. She's no longer in prison, as Farak has served her sentence. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. Thank you! November 19, 2019 01:17 PM. 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. Harmony's brother Jamison asks about her often, the parents say. 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.. 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. 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. As a teenager, she had attempted suicide. MGB medical residents want to change long hours, low pay and poor benefits. That's when rogue. She was sentenced in 2014 to 18 months in prison and 5 years of probation. Kaczmarek had obtained the evidence at issue while she was prosecuting Farak on state charges of tampering with evidence and drug possession. Apart from the late Stanley Farak, it appears that Amy and Sonja make up the rest of Lindas family. After their arrests, prosecutors at the Massachusetts Attorney Generals office then tried to sweep their crimes under the rug without addressing how their actions affected the defendants who were convicted based on their drug testing. Former chemist Annie Dookhan was convicted in 2013 on charges of improperly testing drug evidence at a drug lab in Boston. 45 Year Olds. She has kept a low profile but has been spotted in court for civil cases related to her own case, including in 2018. "All Defendant had to do to honor the Plaintiffs Brady rights was to turn over copies of documents that were obviously exculpatory as to the Farak defendants or accede to one of the repeated requests from counsel, including Plaintiffs counsel, that they be permitted to inspect the evidence seized from Faraks car," Robertson wrote in her ruling. I could not imagine being high on liquid methamphetamine and hiding it, day in, day out, Carr told Oxygen.com, adding that her initial curiosity surrounding Farak kicked off the making of the docuseries. The newest true crime series from Netflix, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, was released on April 1, 2020. She recalled a hearing where she had to borrow $250 or return to jail. She looked into the western area of the state because it was less expensive and less hectic. She still resides in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, specifically, in the Portsmouth Park Area. F ormer FBI special agent Peter Strzok's wife discovered his affair with FBI lawyer Lisa Page on his phone in 2017, the Justice Department revealed in its response to . 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 . Sonja Farak, left, stands during her arraignment at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown, Mass. I felt amazing.. Penate is just one of the thousands of people whose cases were affected by Faraks actions. The settlement is the result of a class action lawsuit seeking to reimburse those who had their cases dismissed. on Oct. 31, 2017. In How to Fix a Drug Scandal on Netflix, Ryan is the primary on-camera interviewee. This immediately provoked questions about the thousands of cases in which her findings had contributed to the imprisonment of an individual. Before her sentencing, Farak failed a drug test while out on bail, according to Mass Live. 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. Farak is one of two Massachusetts drug lab technicians who were caught tainting evidence that was used to convict thousands of defendants on drug charges. 2. Sonja Farak, a chemist with a longterm mental health struggle, is the catalyst of the story, but it doesn't end with her. Carr said shes been horrified to read angry reactions towards Farak over Twitter. 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. I find that everyone needs to be given a second chance.". Kaczmarek is one of three former prosecutors whose role in the prosecution of Farak later became the focus of several lawsuits and disciplinary hearings. Sonja Farak was a chemist for a state crime lab in Massachusetts. Yes, it is so exciting to put a series out and I think the series is well-reported and researched but its something that happened in the midst of her addiction, and she was incredibly embarrassed about it. Dookhan married Surrendranath Dookhan, a software engineer, in 2004. Sonja Farak grew up with an interest in sports, and a desire to do well in life. 1. Class members can also call 1-833-630-1415 for information in both English and Spanish. Her wrongdoings were exposed when unsealed cocaine and a crack pipe were found under her desk. How to Fix a Drug Scandal depicts the role of former Attorney General of Massachusetts Martha Coakley, who was accused of political cover up. As the docuseries shows, she admitted to a therapist in 2009 that she had been struggling with addiction issues since 2005. 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. It didnt matter whether or not she was the one who did the testing or some other chemist. They wrote that she served 13 months and was paroled sometime in 2015. The charges against Penate were dismissed after Farak's conviction. 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. The Amherst Bulletin reported that her medical records indicated that she only became addicted to drugs once she started working at the lab, in 2004. Read More: Where is Sonja Farak Sister Now? She confided in her therapist that all the drugs she was consuming came from her workplace. Each person who has had a case dismissed will receive at least $150. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. It's Boston local news in one concise, fun and informative email. She shone academically as well. People Also Viewed . More than 24,000 convictions in 16,449 cases tainted by former state chemist Sonja Farak have been dismissed in a court case brought by the ACLU of Massachusetts, the Committee of Public Counsel Services (CPCS), and law firm Fick & Marx LLP. 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. A lead plaintiff in the class action suit, Nicole Westcott, 34, of Belchertown, said she doesn't know exactly how much money she stands to receive if a judge signs off on the settlement later this fall. Netflix's latest true-crime series, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, dives deep into a shocking Massachusetts scandal, one that started in the humble confines of an underfunded drug testing lab and ended with an entire system in question. Two Massachusetts drug-testing laboratory technicians are caught tampering with and falsifying drug evidence, and prosecutors are reluctant to disclose the full extent of their criminal behavior. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! Jared Fogle. She graduated with high distinction. Criminal. Actress Shannon O'Neill portrays Farak in How to a Fix a Drug Scandal. On January 6, 2014, Farak pled guilty to the charges against her. Linda was married to Stanley M Farak, who was in the US Navy. Kaczmarek failed to disclose information and intentionally misrepresented the evidence she had, and worked to actively shut down inquiry and deflect zealous work by Farak defendants counsel who were doing their jobs by requesting evidence of Faraks misconduct, according to the report. Former Massachusetts crime lab chemist Sonja Farak, left, during her arraignment in 2013. 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. Farak, a chemist, was later convicted of stealing drugs from the state lab in Amherst. Directed by Erin Lee Carr, How to Fix a Drug Scandal released in April 2020 on Netflix. Published Jul 1, 2020. Penate's lawsuit, which seeks $5.7 million in damages, is believed to be one of the last remaining suits tied to the scandals; the statute of limitations to file such suits has expired. Together, we can create a more connected and informed world. While attending college, she met her longtime partner Nikki Lee. (Featured Image Credit: Mass Live). In 2019, she was seen leaving the Springfield Federal Court but declined to comment on the status of the case. Magistrate Judge Robertson denied a request in Penate's lawsuit that Kaczmarek be prohibited from contesting the special hearing officer's findings. They wrote that she served 13 months and was paroled sometime in 2015.. Inwardly though, Sonja was struggling. 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. For people with disabilities needing assistance with the Public Files, contact Glenn Heath at 617-300-3268. One of the reasons for the decrepit state and standard of the Amherst lab was the lack of funds. She tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. 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. Ted Bundy. The Board of Bar Overseers (BBO) is reviewing the actions of three prosecutors in the investigation of the scandal to determine whether any of them deliberately withheld potentially exculpatory evidence. Lets find out. She said early recovery was hard because finding employment and housing was difficult with a criminal record and having to pay court fees. Farak used to take drugs that came in the lab for test of authenticity and used as criminal evidence. Release year: 2020. Obviously, after a blunder of such scale, no one would want their samples checked from the same lab. Previously to her arrest, Farak lived in Laurel Park, Northampton in Massachusetts. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! 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. Penate argued the court should follow those findings. 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. 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. Faraks sister Amy Farak said her sister excelled at sports. Farak testified that she started off trying meth in the lab because she was "curious. She admitted that back in college shed research drugs and noted that meth sounded like one she was particularly interested in trying. The settlement also covers relatives of deceased class members. 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. 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, . The process of reimbursing people for the biggest drug lab scandals in the nations history is moving forward. Since Linda does not seem to have any social media profiles, we cannot give you a recent photographic update. Most Popular #259201 First Name Sonja #23 Criminal Born in Massachusetts #11 45 Year Old Criminal #6 Sonja Farak Is A Member Of . Farak as a young woman (Photo: Netflix) Her misconduct led to more than 24,000 drug cases being dismissed. A scandal erupts, raising questions for the thousands of defendants in her cases. Farak worked for the Amherst Drug Lab in Massachusetts for 9 years when she was convicted of stealing and using them. This documentary mini-series follows the stories of these two drug lab . It appears that Linda has Christianity listed as her religion, and is a Caucasian woman, whos registered as a Democrat. The project has brought up questions Carr is still grappling with. 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.. Criminal. Residents are advised to check for a notice in the mail. Sonja Farak: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know. As a teenager, she had attempted suicide. 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. 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..
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