STORY: "Second Massachusetts state chemist accused of tampering," by reporter Laura Ly, published by CNN on January 20, 2013.
GIST: "A second Massachusetts state chemist in just a few months has been accused of mishandling drug evidence, the attorney general's office said Sunday. Sonja Farak, 35, who worked at the Massachusetts State Crime Laboratory in Amherst, was arrested at her Northampton home Saturday night by Massachusetts State Police and is facing two counts of tampering with evidence, one count of possession of a Class A substance, and one count of possession of a Class B Substance, according to Attorney General Martha Coakley. Farak remained in jail Sunday, the attorney general's office said.
"We allege that this
chemist tampered with evidence, placing the integrity of that evidence
in question," Coakley said in a statement. 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 master's degree
in chemistry from the University of Massachusetts. Dookhan, 34, faces
charges in several counties in Massachusetts because she had previously
testified in various trials in her former official capacity as a
chemist......... In a news conference
Sunday regarding Farak's arrest, Coakley noted that "unlike our
allegations against Annie Dookhan, this did not involve 'dry labbing' or
falsification of tests. On its face, the allegations against this
chemist do not implicate the reliability of testing done or fairness to
defendants." "Dry labbing" is the
practice of merely visually identifying samples instead of performing
the required chemical test, the attorney general said. The crime laboratory in
Amherst stores and analyzes alleged controlled substances seized by
local and state police."
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/20/justice/massachusetts-chemist-charged/
See also: "Amherst Laboratory remains closed." The Republican, at:
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/01/hampden_district_attorney_davi.html
PUBLISHER'S NOTE
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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