SONJA Farak stole drugs from her job as a chemist at a lab in Massachusetts for years.
Farak's crimes eventually caught up with her and she was arrested, but who is Sonja Farak and what is How To Fix A Drug Scandal?
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Who is Sonja Farak?
Sonja Farak was a former state drug lab chemist in Massachusetts.
In 2013 she was arrested for using the drugs she was supposed to be testing and covering her tracks while doing so.
She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and five years probation for her crimes, in addition to this, her prosecution led to a staggering 60,000 drug convictions being overturned.
Netflix has released a documentary detailing her life and crimes called How To Fix A Drug Scandal which is available to watch now.
What was Sonja convicted of?
Farak was found guilty of tampering with evidence, possession of illegal drugs, and stealing cocaine from the lab.
In court Farak said that she began using the drugs as soon as she started working at the Massachusetts crime lab in 2004.
She came unstuck by authorities in 2013 when a chunk of crack cocaine went missing from an evidence locker and a duffle bag containing fragments of a crack pipe was discovered behind her desk.
Remarkably, Farak admitted that she had testified at court cases while high and attended her own trial while being intoxicated.
Where is Sonja now?
After serving just a year of her 18 month sentence, Farak was released from prison in 2015.
Since her release, she has kept a low profile and managed to stay out of the public eye.
In 2019, the former chemist was seen attending a civil case at a federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Director of the Netflix show, Erin Lee Carr, said that Farak is now sober after her stint in prison.
Was Sonja involved in making How To Fix A Drug Scandal?
How To Fix A Drug Scandal was directed and produced by Erin Lee Carr.
The show mulls over first-person interviews from criminal defence lawyers who fought to secure release for clients convicted with faulty evidence, state prosecutors, journalists and members of Farak’s family.
Farak declined to be part of the series due to an ongoing civil case but did speak with Carr off-the-record.
Although Farak is the star of the show, the documentary also shows how far the corruption went, with the state attorney of Massachusetts going to great lengths to cover up Farak's crimes, which one judge said was a “a fraud upon the court”.
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