She grew up in Portsmouth with her sister Amy. Farak graduated with high distinction from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and was passionate about science, according to Rolling Stone. 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, . While Farak claimed that she did in fact test all the drug evidence thrown her way, unlike Dookhan, she did so under highly questionable circumstances. Inwardly though, Sonja was struggling. I think it's very painful to be Sonja and I regret having to advocate against her, Ryan said in the docuseries. Its almost as if somebody would take the worst part of my life and show it to millions of people.. Farak pleaded guilty in 2014 of stealing drugs and tampering with evidence, setting off a second. One of the reasons for the decrepit state and standard of the Amherst lab was the lack of funds. Chemists Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan tampered with evidence and even used narcotics. The Netflix show highlights not only the arrest and trial of Farak, but also the missteps taken by the state to ignore the extent of the cases affected by Faraks actions. I find that everyone needs to be given a second chance.". Farak admitted in testimony that she began using drugs almost as soon as she started working at the Massachusetts State Crime Lab in Amherst. 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. Carr told Women's Health she was really interested in humanizing Farak's story to fill in the gaps left by New England media. Applying Routine Activity Theory: A Case Study of the Sonya Farak Drug She was sentenced in 2014 to 18 months in prison and 5 years of probation. Sonja Farak in court in 2014.. Sonja Farak is at the center of Netflix's new true crime docuseries, How To Fix a Drug Scandal. Read More: Best Movies about Drug on Netflix. One thing that How to Fix a Drug Scandal makes clear is that it wasnt all Sonja Faraks fault. Coverage of the latest true crime stories and famous cases explained, as well as the best TV shows, movies and podcasts in the genre. Her reporting focuses on mental health, criminal justice and education. You can try, Suspensions and a reprimand proposed for prosecutors admonished in drug lab scandal. After graduating from Portsmouth High School, Farak attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where she got a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry in 2000. Her parents were described as loving, and somewhat strict. GBH News brings you the stories, local voices, and big ideas that shape our world. Thats when she found a home working at a lab in the Morrill Science Building on the UMass Amherst campus. "Not only did I already put my life on hold for the years that I was using, but now I was ready to be a functional member of society and I was blocked from doing that because of these charges," Westcott said. The number is 888-999-2881. She purchased a home there in 2006. Who Are Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan? How to Fix a Drug Scandal True Story She was struggling to suppress mental health issues, depression in particular, and she tried to kill herself in high school, according to Rolling Stone. Annie Dookhan - Wikipedia 10 Things Everyone Completely Missed In Netflix's How to Fix a Drug Scandal In 2008, defendant Ricky Simmons pleaded guilty in the Superior Court to several drug crimes. Sonja Farak, of Northampton, a former chemist at the state crime lab in Amherst, appears in Hampshire Superior Court in Northampton in April 2013 for her arraignment on multiple counts of evidence . In the civil suit, she filed her own answer to the lawsuit and hired the services of attorney Susan Sachs. Those are things that cause people, including my clients, to make choices that negatively impact themselves and others. As a defense attorney, he discusses the importance . Because of all that, it's no surprise that Farak was sent to prison in Massachusetts. 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. Who is Sonja Farak? PDF Applying Routine Activity Theory: A Case Study of the Sonya Farak Drug Obviously, after a blunder of such scale, no one would want their samples checked from the same lab. Less than a year later, former drug lab technician Sonja Farak would also be arrested for tampering with the drugs she was tasked with testing. In high school, she nearly died by suicide, and in college Farak was . She tested . Faraks mishandling of evidence halted in 2013 when she was approached by a state police trooper after some of her drug samples were discovered missing. After launching a lengthy investigation, his attorney Luke Ryan discovered that Farak had been using drugs the same day she ran tests on the substances found on him, thanks to paperwork he discovered noting the date of one of Farak's therapy sessions, where she admitted to have been using that day. Farak was well (Long, 2021) educated, participated in sports, was married, owned a home, did not have a criminal record, and held a respectable job .