After graduating from Portsmouth High School, Farak attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she got a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry in 2000. 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. 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.. [6] How to Fix a Drug Scandal depicts the role of former Attorney General of Massachusetts Martha Coakley, who was accused of political cover up. If you're on the prowl for . She started working there in 2004 and appreciated that it was more laid back than the job at Hinton. How to Fix a Drug Scandal is available now on Netflix. In 2019, she was seen attending a civil court case relating to her, but she's otherwise kept a . Sonja Farak and two other chemists analyzed drug samples at the lab from late 2004 until its closure on January 18, 2013. YouTube [2][3], Dookhan was accused of forging reports and tampering with samples to produce desired results. However, throughout her time at the lab, Sonja was habitually abusing these substances for personal use and carried out her role whilst high on liquid methamphetamine, cocaine, LSD and even crack. As . In one scene, theres an ACLU poster, and on it is a woman that looks eerily similar to actress and producer, Olivia Wilde. Its unclear if she still owns the property and if she lives there now. How to Fix A Drug Scandal is Netflix's latest intriguing documentary series, and these are 10 details everyone missed. Its unclear if Farak is still with Lee, as they have both remained out of the public eye since the case. So she turned to drugs, which were incredibly easy to procure. Matt is short for Matthew, and the mat is a play on words of his name. Although she establish a passion for science, graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 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. Luke Ryan Photo: Netflix "How to Fix a Drug Scandal" documents the riveting details about how a . Farak started her drug use by experimenting with liquid methamphetamine, but her addiction quickly becomes a habit and she started consuming other drugs such as cocaine, and crack, which she smoked in her drug labs bathroom, per Rolling Stone. 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. Court records showed that Farak was smocking crack and dropping acid on the same day that she tested the drugs in Penates case. When Ryan found out Farak was high when she conducted those tests, he knew it was time to fight. 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. She played as the starting guard for Portsmouth High Schools freshman team. NORTHAMPTON Sonja J. Farak told a nurse at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee in December 2013 that she used methamphetamines and other stimulants "whenever she could get her hands on them." And since her job as a chemist was to test drug samples at a state drug lab in Amherst, that opportunity . The Farak scandal came as the state grappled with another drug lab crisis. 7:29 PM EST, Sun January 20, 2013. Sonja Farak was released on parole in 2016 and has remained out of the spotlight ever since. Carr said that Farak is a private person. Not only was she under the impact of drugs while at work for about nine years, but she was also under the impact when she took the stand in 2013. In 2018, the Supreme Judicial Court dismissed an additional 16,000 drug convictions because of former chemist Sonja Farak's malfeasance at the State Laboratory Institute in Amherst (Amherst Drug Lab) between 2004 and 2013. (Featured Image Credit: Mass Live). 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. The newest true crime series from Netflix, How to Fix a Drug Scandal, was released on April 1, 2020. DISTURBING TRUE STORY BEHIND NETFLIXS HOW TO FIX A DRUG SCANDAL AND HOW ONE PERSONS ADDICTION AFFECTED THOUSANDS, Sonja Farak's addiction saw her abuse her position, Sonja would take samples from her colleague's desks too, Sonja Farak's actions affected thousands of drug convictions, Sonja Farak (right) followed the crimes of chemist Annie Dookhan (left). I was provided for in every way, Farak testified. | Powered by Artimization. The filmmaker told that she spent a lot of time thinking about Farak and trying to humanize her. 2023 Cinemaholic Inc. All rights reserved. 1. How does Jon Taffer Feb 1, 2023. I think shes a good person, she said. (The Massachusetts 2017 group exoneration involving chemist Annie Dookhan took place at the main lab.) The Bechdel Test is a test that measures the representation of women in fiction. Farak, a chemist at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory in Amherst, was arrested in 2013. She started working shortly after for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in July 2003 until July 2012, and from July 2012 until January 2013 for the Massachusetts State Police when the lab fell under their jurisdiction. 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. To find out if your case was affected by either Ms. Dookhan or Ms. Farak, you can call a toll-free hotline operated by defense lawyers with the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the public defender agency in Massachusetts. Throughout the show, many interviewees state that this isnt really about a drug problem, its about a problem thats been going on way before drugs came in the picture - mental health. Deborah Becker Twitter Host/ReporterDeborah Becker is a senior correspondent and host at WBUR. Netflix's most original true-crime film: "How to Fix a Drug Crisis," [3] was released on April 1st, 2020. Farak saw Kogan in 2009 and 2010, and her therapist wrote: She obtains the drugs from her job at the state drug lab, by taking portions of samples that have come in to be tested., Kogan also wrote that Farak told her she had taken methamphetamines at another lab in an old job, but she didnt get much from it. Kogan wrote that after moving to western [Massachusetts] for her job at the state drug lab, [Farak] tried it again and really liked it. They wrote that Lee, disabled by a stew of mental ailments, [spent] her hours surfing the Web in a haze.. I want to be accepted like one of them, Sonja said during the local news segment, included in the docuseries. The scandal led to the dismissal of thousands of drug convictions. Authorities also determined that Farak allegedly possessed what appeared to be Class A and B substances, the release said. This mini docuseries was produced by Jigsaw Productions, the very same production company that workedon the memorable documentariesCitizen K, American Jihad, and Water and Power: A California Heist. The hammer came down, so to speak, when it was discovered Farak had been high when testing drug samples from Renaldo Penates case. Sonja Farak was a chemist for a state crime lab in Massachusetts. Since her release, she has kept a low profile and managed to stay out of the public . She has kept a low profile but has been spotted in court for civil cases related to her own case, including in 2018. 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. There were also fewer technicians, which made it manageable for her drug use to go unnoticed. The day Farak was supposed to analyze the sample, she wrote in her diary, tried to resist [using] @ work but ended up failing, per the Washington Post. Kaczmarek is one of three former prosecutors whose role in the prosecution of Farak later became the focus of several lawsuits and disciplinary hearings. Documentary series How To Fix a Drug Scandal follows crime drug lab chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan and how each of their own unique levels of misconduct impacted thousands of cases and resulted in chaos for the legal system. The depths of her thefts and addiction are explored over the course of the series. 2020 American documentary television mini-series, "How to Fix a Drug Scandal: behind a staggering Netflix crime docuseries", "Inspector General: Dookhan 'Sole Bad Actor' In State Drug Lab Scandal", "24,000 charges tossed because they were tainted by former Amherst lab chemist's misconduct", "Netflix's 'How To Fix A Drug Scandal' Elevates Process Over Personality", "How to Fix a Drug Scandal is the staggering true story of justice gone very wrong", Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer, Break it All: The History of Rock in Latin America, Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, Monsters Inside: The 24 Faces of Billy Milligan, Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer, Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes, Conversations with a Killer: The John Wayne Gacy Tapes, The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=How_to_Fix_a_Drug_Scandal&oldid=1123661369, 2020s American documentary television series, English-language Netflix original programming, Netflix original documentary television series, Documentary television series about crime in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages containing links to subscription-only content, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 November 2022, at 00:02. You know, no special treatment. She shone academically as well. Sonja Farak during her arraignment at Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown in 2013. Prev Next - Advertisement - Latest Stories . 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. Its no big deal, 14-year-old Farak said to the Panama City News Herald. According to her teammates, She was the best center in the league last year, and they [felt] stronger with her in there than with some guys.. The four-part Netflix series goes deep into the story of a man named Rolando Penate, a case Farak had handled at the lab. "As the gatekeeper to this evidence, she failed to turn over documents, and she adamantly opposed the requests for access. Her role was to test for the presence of illegal substances, which could be instrumental in thousands of . Three former Massachusetts assistant attorneys general all engaged in misconduct while investigating a state drug lab scandal involving disgraced former-chemist Sonja Farak, according to the . Thats when she found a home working at a lab in the Morrill Science Building on the UMass Amherst campus. She was convicted to 18 months behind bars, followed by five years of probation and 500 hours of community services, the same year. She married Lee after starting her job, but their marriage was rocky. 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Shortly into her role at Amherst, Farak decided to try liquid methamphetamine to ease her personal struggles. On the surface, their crimes dont seem as injurious and they dont seem to enjoy inflicting pain on others. Since the takeover, the budget for all forensic labs across the state has been increased, by around twenty-five per cent. There was something so tragic but also surreal about this story.. (Approx.) She was ar-rested for tampering with evidence while abusing narcotics at work. In 2019, the chemist was spotted at federal court in Springfield, MA , attending a civil case. She was ultimately sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2014. She cried as she was sentenced. Dookhan was convicted of falsifying test . In addition, the two antagonists of the story were two women - prosecutors who made it impossible for the convicts to be rightfully released from prison. While not reporting, he enjoys long-distance running. They wrote that she served 13 . Tens of thousands of criminal drug cases were dismissed as a result of misconduct by Dookhan and Farak. Something went wrong, please try again later. While Dookhan spoiled evidence in the favor of the prosecution, Farak smoked it. If she puts her mind to something, she can do it, Amy told the producers of How to Fix a Drug Scandal.. This arrest comes just three months after the arrest of Annie Dookhan, a former Massachusetts chemist at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory in Jamaica Plain, who is charged with obstruction of justice, mishandling of drug evidence and lying about holding a masters degree in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts. Notice of Dismissal with Prejudice: Spanish, Notice of Dismissal with Prejudice: Khmer, Notice of Dismissal with Prejudice: Russian, Notice of Dismissal with Prejudice: Vietnamese, To find out if your case was affected by either Ms. Dookhan or Ms. Farak, you can call a toll-free hotline operated by defense lawyers with the Committee for Public Counsel Services, the public defender agency in Massachusetts. After serving just a year of her 18 month sentence, Farak was released from prison in 2015. Farak testified that she started off trying meth in the lab because she was curious. She confessed that back in college shed research drugs and noted that meth sounded like one she was especially interested in trying. This is whenMatt Segal reveals a T-shirt to commemorate their time on this case. Sonja received a job as a chemist at the Hinton State Laboratory building in Jamaica Plain after getting her college degree. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Carr said shes been shocked to read angry reactions towards Farak over Twitter. In "How to Fix a Drug Scandal," a new four-part Netflix docuseries, documentary filmmaker Erin Lee Carr presents the stories of Massachusetts drug lab chemists Annie Dookhan and Sonja Farak, and . 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. (413) 586-4800lryan@strhlaw.com, DanielN. Marx She purchased a home there in 2006. If you can't get enough of true crime documentaries, Netflix is your best friend. (857) 321-8360dmarx@fickmarx.comwfick@fickmarx.com. As of May 19, 2020, allclaimsfor relief due to an invalidated conviction as a result of the misconduct of Sonya Farak and Annie Dookhancan no longer bebrought through an individual motion process. We were unable to subscribe you to WBUR Today. While what she did was immoral, many have been sympathetic to her plight. Its up to the Board of Bar Overseers about what discipline, if any, should be imposed on the three former prosecutors. According to Matt Segal, Legal Director of ACLU of Massachusetts, the justice system is set up to where it is "so easy to hold onto a wrongful conviction and so hard to overcome it.". In one instance, it appeared that Farak had 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, the release said. 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. In the documentary, an actress plays Sonja Farak for B-roll scenes, and that actress is Shannon ONeill. The feedback will only be used for improving the website. 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. Her medical records included notes from Faraks therapist in Amherst, Anna Kogan. After her arrest, she received support from her parents, who showed up to her court appearances, the Daily Hampshire Gazette reported. WilliamW. Fick She looked into the western area of the state because it was less costly and less hectic. 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. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. 24 Federal Street, 4th Floor 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. Faraks sister Amy Farak said her sister outshined at sports. 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