Sonja Farak, who worked for an Amherst laboratory which tested drug samples for police, was a popular witness in criminal trials. She however had more insight than most judges and attorneys knew. Recently, it was revealed that she not only was a drug addict but was often high on drugs, including during appearances in court. Now as many of 30,000 cases might have to be reexamined for before new trials or hearings.
Reports states that Farak was high almost every day that she worked on drug testing. She was a virtual laboratory herself of drug use — taking methamphetamines, ketamine, cocaine, LSD and other drugs. It is amazing that no one knew or took action despite her work on tens of thousands of cases from 2005-2013.
This is just the latest such scandal for the state. Roughly 40,000 cases have to be reviewed due to the actions of Annie Dookhan, who worked at a state drug lab in Boston. Dookhan was sentenced to at least three years in prison in 2013 after pleading guilty to faking test results in criminal cases.
For a drug addict, Farak, 37, hit the jackpot in a lab with a steady stream of drug samples or “standards” submitted the police. She admitted that she regularly took the drug herself.
Farak has admitted ingesting lab “standards” – drug samples used as benchmarks to test against substances submitted by police for testing. She even smoked crack before a 2012 state police accreditation inspection on the lab. She also used the lab to manufacture crack cocaine.
Farak pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence, stealing cocaine from the lab and unlawful possession in January 2014 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
The whole story kind of cracks me up. No pun intended.
Paul
I believe that the article mentioned that she used the lab to manufacture crack cocaine, as opposed to meth–regardless, I don’t understand how there was a total lack of oversight, for years, where no one noticed that any drugs were going missing or that crack cocaine was being manufactured in the facility. I would be willing to bet that there are more people, as of yet, unnamed, involved in this saga.
Was she working alone in that lab? How is it that she was capable of actually manufacturing crack cocaine in the lab and no one noticed–supervisors, co-workers, police officers, etc.? Was there no oversight in these facilities? After samples are tested, who is responsible for returning these samples to the evidence room? Aren’t items weighed (cocaine) and/or counted (pills) prior to and directing following these tests? Somehow, I doubt that she was a one-man-band and the only one involved in these activities.
bam bam – cooking meth can have explosive effects. If you can do it in a small camper trailer, you could do it in a lab, but the downside is you might blow up the lab.
(music)
High on Cocaine!
High on Cocaine!
Casey Jones better…
Watch your speed.
Trouble ahead.
Trouble behind.
And I’ve got that notion that you have..
Just lost your mind.
—
Next witness.
Walter White never sampled the product. Just finished that incredible series[Breaking Bad] for the second time. Like all great shows, it’s better the second time.
Oh, that war on drugs is working so well.
Police first suspected her of wrongdoing when she said: “Don’t meth around with me. “
I think she was high in her mug shot. She looks like a very happy camper! I foresee a lot of plea bargaining by the state.