For the second time in less than one year, Massachusetts a drug laboratory chemist has been charged with mishandling and tampering with drug samples.
Sonja Farak, 35, of Northampton, is charged with testing and certifying drugs and then replacing them with non-drugs. Frank is believed to have replaced heroin and cocaine then
Frank has been arrested on Saturday and was held on $75,000 bail pending court appearance in the Eastern Hampshire District Court. There she will be arraigned on one count ofpossession of class a, possession of class b as well as witness intimidation or tampering with evidence.
Frank’s theft of the drugs occurred on January 2 and January 8. They were found after what the Attorney General said was a routine of the certification of the drug samples. Frank’s supervisors at the lab were unable to locate the drugs after Frank had tested them.
As of now the Attorney General does not believe that that the amount of drugs stolen from the lab was large or that Frank was selling the drugs. However, it should be noted that this is same Attorney General that argued to the United States Supreme Court that chemists should have to testify in a criminal case. That argument was unsuccessful.
This scandal comes months after Anne Dookhan had been accused of intentionally mishandling evidence in the Hinton Drug lab. She is facing numerous criminal charges. Frank had worked with Dookhan at the lab in Jamaica Plain before relocating to the Amherst lab.
Criminal Attorney Patrick Donovan is a former prosecutor that handles drug cases. Attorney Donovan handles both felony and misdemeanor crimes and has appeared in over fifty courts in Massachusetts. Attorney Donovan is committed to providing the best criminal defense.
