1.6.14 I Northampton -- Republican staff photo by Don Treeger--

1.6.14 I Northampton -- Republican staff photo by Don Treeger-- Sonja Farak is led from Hampshire Superior Court after pleading guilty and getting sentenced to charges of tampering with drug evidence while she worked at the state lab in Amherst.

NORTHAMPTON - Former state drug analyst Sonya Farak was given an 18-month jail sentence Monday after pleading guilty to stealing cocaine she was supposed to be testing.



Superior Court Judge Mary-Lou Rup also ordered the 35-year-old Northampton chemist to serve 5 years of probation and 500 hours of community services following her release from custody.



By stealing cocaine from the crime lab at the University of Massachusetts, Farak undermined public faith in the criminal justice system and sabotaged drug prosecutions in four western counties, Rup said during a hearing in Hampshire Superior Court.



"I don't have to tell you the number of cases - dozens, hundreds," the judge said, summarizing the damage from the Amherst drug lab scandal.



Handcuffed and dressed in a black sweater and matching pants, Farak struggled to wipe tears away as the judge announced the sentence.



Farak pleaded guilty to four counts of theft of a controlled substance from an authorized dispensary, four counts of tampering with evidence, and two counts of possession of a cocaine.



The plea came two weeks after Farak was jailed for flunking a drug test while out on bail following her arrest in January 2013.



The Amherst drug lab scandal was the second to rock the state's criminal justice system in two years. In August 2012 the a state drug laboratory in Boston was shut down after chemist Annie Dookhan admitted to faking drug tests.



In November, Dookhan was given a 3 to 5 year state prison sentence after pleading guilty to 27 counts of tampering with evidence, filing false reports and misleading investigators.



In Northampton Monday, defense lawyer Elaine Pourinski asked the judge to place Farak on probation, describing her as a first-time, non-violent offender.



For Farak, crack cocaine was not a party drug, but a way of controlling depression, Pourinski said.



"It was about coping; it certainly wasn't about having fun; I don't think she's had fun in quite a while," she added.



Noting that Farak's parents, sisters, spouse and neighbors attended the hearing, Pourinski said the drug thefts were an aberration in an otherwise exemplary life.



But Assistant Attorney General Anne Kaczmarek said the chemist had undone the work of police and prosecutors in hundreds of drug cases, many of which cannot be retried because the evidence no longer exists.



The prosecutor asked Rup to impose a 2-to 3-year sentence in state prison, followed by 5 years of probation.



The case began when Farak's co-workers contacted state police after samples of cocaine seized by Springfield police had vanished. Investigators traced the missing drugs to her work station, and later found cocaine and a crack pipe in her car, according to Kaczmarek.





