Sunday, January 20, 2013
State Lab chemist Sonja Farak is accused of tampering with state drug evidence at the Massachusetts Crime Lab in Amherst. Farak previously worked at the Jamaica Plain lab until 2004.
A second state crime lab chemist has been arrested and charged with allegedly tampering with drug evidence and possessing drugs, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today. Sonja Farak, 35, of Northhamption, worked at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory in Amherst, and was arrested on Saturday at her home by Massachusettts State Police, according to a press release. According to investigators, in one instance Farak allegedly removed a substance from a case that had previously tested positive for cocaine, and replaced it with a counterfeit substance that no longer tested positive. Farak was charged with two counts of tampering with evidence, one count of possession of a class A substance, and one count of possession of a Class B…
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
The proposed five-member board would have oversight authority over all state facilities engaged in forensic services in criminal investigation.
In the wake of the Jamaica Plain Drug Lab crisis, the Massachusetts Senate Republican Caucus wants “tighter controls and higher standards” at its state drug labs. The caucus proposed that a five-member board be established to “have oversight authority over all state facilities engaged in forensic services in criminal investigations,” according to a statement released Wednesday. The board will consist of the secretary of public safety and security, the attorney general, the inspector general and the colonel of state police, or their designees, along with one appointee from the governor, according to the statement. “We need to create a new infrastructure of oversight, accountability, transparency and integrity, and this legislation will …
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Annie Dookhan’s husband called her a liar via text.
After a quiet few weeks over Christmas and New Year’s the ongoing Hinton Drug Lab crisis came back with a roar this past week. Here’s what happened: For more information on the state drug lab crisis, check out our topic page.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Jonathan Vaughn, recently freed after being convicted of drug distribution charges, was arrested in Chelsea Tuesday.
While Annie Dookhan faced charges of her own in court Wednesday, a convicted criminal, free because of Dookhan’s malfeasance, was being arraigned on charges stemming from a Tuesday night arrest. Jonathan Vaughan, 26, was drinking Natural Ice beer at a Chelsea McDonalds Tuesday night. Police arrived and arrested Vaughan. As they escorted him out of the establishment he began to thrash violently against the officers and was eventually restrained, according to a statement from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. While being escorted, Vaughan allegedly said, “I just got out on Annie Dookhan and I ain’t going back to jail,” according to the statement. Police found eight baggies of suspected crack cocaine on Vaughan, according to the …
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
New details have emerged in the ongoing Hinton Drug Lab crisis.
While disgraced state lab chemist Annie Dookhan was in court today, The Boston Globe unearthed new details in the state drug lab saga including a plea by her husband to not trust her. Surren Dookhan, Annie Dookhan’s husband, sent a text message to George Papachristos, former Norfolk Count assistant district attorney and a noted friend of Annie Dookhan, calling her a liar, according to The Boston Globe. According to the Globe: “This is Annie’s husband do not believe her, she’s a liar, she’s always lying,” Surren Dookhan texted to the prosecutor, according to an interview Papachristos gave to State Police on Oct. 3, 2012. “She is looking for sympathy and attention.” The Globe also reports Annie Dookhan was caught removed 90 drug samples from…
Friday, December 28, 2012
A Boston Herald report details the problems at the Jamaica Plain-based drug lab building site at which the state scandal was born.
Lack of communication between management and workers, minimal quality assurance training and a poor employee review system all sound like issues that led to the Hinton Drug Lab crisis, which the state is now grappling with. But these are also issues with 17 other laboratories in the same building. An Association of Public Health Laboratories report made 18 recommendations for the labs at the site of the now shut down lab where chemist Annie Dookhan botched the testing of drug evidence in an undetermined amount of state cases, according to the Boston Herald. The report said the site maintains good lab practice but top-heavy management, poor communication between upper management and lower level employees and an inconsistent employee review …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The state drug lab chemist who is accused to tampering with evidence will be put on GPS monitoring and must adhere to a curfew.
A diminutive Annie Dookhan walked into Suffolk Superior Court Wednesday morning where she was arraigned on 15 of the 27 charges against her in the state drug lab crisis. Dookhan pleaded not guilty to four counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence and one count of falsely pretending to hold a degree from a college or university. Charges are pending against Dookhan in other counties as well. Assitant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek, who is prosecuting the case, said Dookhan allegedly tampered with drug vials while working at the lab and admitted to forging a lab officer’s initials on a drug sample. "She would make the drugs match the objective test," she said. Kaczmarek listed two instances where the true test…
The Hinton Drug Lab chemist at the center of the situation will be arraigned on 27 charges.
The chemist who is accused of tampering with evidence in 34,000 state drug criminal cases will be in court today. Annie Dookhan was indicted Monday on 27 charges related to evidence tampering while she was a chemist at the now shut down Hinton Drug Lab in Jamaica Plain. She will appear in Suffolk Superior Court at 9:30 a.m. The statewide grand jury indictment included 17 counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence, perjury and falsely pretending to hold a degree from a college or university, according to a press statement from Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. Authorities allege that Dookhan obstructed justice by falsely certifying drug analyses, or causing others to do so, when she knew the results …
Monday, December 17, 2012
The chemist at the center of the state drug lab investigation allegedly mishandled evidence in thousands of Massachusetts drug cases.
Annie Dookhan, the chemist who stands accused of mishandling evidence in thousands of state drug cases, has been indicted on new charges. Dookhan was indicted by statewide grand jury on 27 charges today including 17 counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence, perjury and falsely pretending to hold a degree from a college or university, according to a press statement from Attorney General Martha Coakley's office. “We allege that Annie Dookhan tampered with drug evidence and fabricated test results on multiple occasions,” Coakley said in the statement. “Her alleged actions have sent ripple effects throughout the criminal justice system. We are committed to working with all stakeholders to fix this situation and…
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
According to a Boston Herald report, state health officials did not launch an investigation into the Hinton Drug Lab until Aug. 31, after Gov. Patrick ordered the lab be shut down.
The former Jamaica Plain drug lab mired in controversial decisions and poor oversight was not immediately investigated after it was discovered that Annie Dookhan had been mishandling evidence. The Boston Herald reported Wednesday that state health officials waited seven months to launch a full investigation into the Hinton Drug Lab despite finding out that Dookhan, the state lab chemist who mishandled thousands of state police criminal drug samples, had already mishandled 90 cases. Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby and former state Department of Public Health commissioner John Auerbach launched the investigation Aug. 31 following Gov. Deval Patrick’s decision to shut the lab down, according to emails obtained by the …
Epyon777
5:51 pm on Thursday, December 20, 2012
This woman destroyed people's lives. that would be the nicest term I could think to call that woman. whole families were destroyed by her biased. go find something else to gripe about Hillary. I'm sure someone is cutting down a tree in their backyard you you can go cry about more ›