For fans of Breaking Bad, Professor Irina Kristy, 74, would seem to walk right out of central casting. The math professor from Boston was arrested with her son and accused of dealing methamphetamine from her home.
Kristy has been teaching three courses a semester as a lecturer at Boston University since 1987 and has been an adjunct professor at Suffolk University since 1985.
She is charged with distribution of meth, conspiracy to violate the drug law, and drug violation in a school zone. Her son, Grigory Genkin, 29, is also charged with the same violations stemming from the alleged drug operation out of their home in Somerville, Massachusetts.
Notably, the media has been publishing her teaching evaluations, which are not flattering (though they are only taking the one’s that are newsworthy). None say “I bet she deals Meth.” Instead that say things like “she’s not aware of her surroundings,” “extremely hard to understand. She never answers the problem correctly. I got more confused the more I went to class,” and “nice lady but gets flustered easily.” The fact is that the evaluations and enrollment for the class is likely to improve once she is rumored to be a meth dealer.
Meth Math” would be an instant hit on any campus and the real-life problems like figuring out the amount of hydroiodic acid an ephedrine in a Red Phosphorous Method (Red P Method) when you are making your own hydroiodic acid.
At 74, the math is not good for sentencing. Age is rarely a successful mitigating factor in sentencing for elderly offenders. These “late bloomers” cannot rely on the reduction of risk from age when they commit the crime as geriatrics. She appears to be a first offender, however, and that will help. People generally age faster in prison so even a few years in jail can have a pronounced impact on someone her age. Humor aside, this is a terribly sad story and it is hard to see an older academic face the criminal justice system.
Source: Daily Mail
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The cop said, “Look me in the eye and tell me you’re innocent!”
And she obviously couldn’t.
I would guess she is being charged because she owns the home and the Feds want it under their drug forfeiture law. This approach is a lot easier than condemning it. I have represented lenders and landlords who found out their borrowers (or more commonly the borrower’s tenants) were running a meth lab in the property. Usually the place is a toxic waste dump and the lender just walks away- the cost of remediating greatly exceeding the balance of the loan. If you own the property already you will probably lose it. Meth is bad news for everyone.
What a sad story.At her age was she fully retired?I feel
like Professor Irina Kristy thought the sale of Meth was not that bad.Who knows?
wonder if her confusion was from getting high or was she showing signs of dementia and her son was taking advantage of her? She obviously lacked in some math skills as she didn’t calculate the odds of getting caught.
As Professor Turley said, this is “a terribly sad story”…
http://www.mos-time.ru/zimin/02/doc06.html
Excerpt:
On September 1, 1998, well-known dissident Sergei Yefimovich Genkin died in Boston. His destiny was in the spirit of our time. His parents were victims of Stalin’s repressions. His father was executed by shooting in 1937, his mother spent 18 years in camps and exile. Sergei was raised by his aunts, his father’s sisters.
Nevertheless, he graduated from the Mathematics and Physics Department of the Moscow Lenin Pedagogical Institute, studied at the graduate school, and enjoyed poetry. He was a talented mathematician and chess player. He was deemed a man with a big future. But he was deeply involved in everything that was going on then in the Soviet Union. Those who knew Sergei in those years remember him always with a thick suitcase stuffed with Samizdat books, willingly giving away to all who were interested copies of “unapproved” literature. He never thought of his own safety.
In the mid-sixties Sergei Genkin actively participated in the dissident movement, which was then just emerging. He took part in the distribution of the “Chronicle of Current Events.” Sergei’s kindness and tolerance attracted people; he knew everybody and was a good friend to many. His popularity as a source of Samizdat helped him draw more and more new members to the movement.
The KGB was on Sergei’s trail. His apartment was ravaged numerous times by destructive searches; he was repeatedly summoned for interrogations and “discussions.” He comported himself with dignity and fearlessness.
For about four months in 1984, Sergei and his wife Irina Kristi were under the relentless surveillance of all branches of Soviet law enforcement–KGB, militia and prosecutor’s office–and were practically under house arrest. The rank and file of these agencies kept round-the-clock watch at the door of their apartment. Sergei was accompanied by a KGB agent from his doorstep to work–all because Irina Kristi had penetrated the severe isolation of the Sakharovs created by the KGB in Gorky. She managed to talk to them and tell the world about their real situation.
Soon after his house arrest Sergei fell gravely ill. The diagnosis was not made right away; it came several years after he and his family immigrated to America. The diagnosis was terrifying: multiple sclerosis. The disease tormented Sergei, but his personality remained the same as in his young years. He never complained. He was always surrounded by people. He was curious about everything and everybody–especially about Russia. He never lost hope for a happy outcome of the events back home.
Sergei Genkin was a shining person. This is how we will remember him. We offer our sincere condolences to his widow Irina Kristi, and his sons, Grigory Genkin, Pyotr Sergiyevsky and Dmitry Slavutsky. (end of excerpt)
Another possibility: adjuncts make very little and her son could be unemployed (not to mention the state of her mortgage, health problems, etc.) – so they did it to pay the bills. Not an excuse, just a solution to a problem in her mind.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/index
Excerpt:
Irina Kristy, 74, a former Soviet dissident who emigrated from Moscow in 1985, is charged with conspiracy to violate drug laws, drug violation near a school and distribution of methamphetamine, according to ABC.
Kristy’s son, Grigory Genkin, 29, was charged with the same crimes in November, ABC reports.
According to an earlier report from the Associated Press, Kristy was a Soviet peace activist and friend of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Andrei Sakharov. She and her husband, Sergei Genkin, were being watched by the KGB until they fled to the USA with their son, according to that Associated Press report. (end of excerpt)
Or maybe neither one of them is an addict, and they are just selling the stuff. Adderall is an amphetamine salt.
Suffolk University again???
She and her son could both be addicts. There are many old drug addicts and alcoholics.
lotta makes a good point.
Elaine,
Maybe this was her Meth-od of teaching…..
Gene…..
Is Meth Evil….or is it the battery acids or drano that is part of the inert ingredient…thats evil….
I’d thay that Kristy really methed up her life.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again . . . meth is evil.
Considering her evaluations coupled with her age I’d be recommending a full battery of medical/psych tests for her if I was her lawyer; she could well be suffering from some age related disease that has affected her behaviour.
raff,
The length that one will go to help one they love….when they are on a spiraling course nowhere but down….
Very sad story. I am guessing the son get her involved. How will society benefit by putting this 74 year old woman in prison?