"Annie Dookhan pursued renown along a path of lies; Finally found fame, as scandal engulfed the state drug lab" by Sally Jacobs | Globe Staff, February 03, 2013
In the exacting world of chemical analysis, soft-spoken chemist Annie Dookhan — or “Little Annie” as she was sometimes called — was a dream employee.
Consider her performance at the vaccine manufacturer where she worked for nearly two years before taking a job at the state drug lab. Most days, Dookhan arrived at work in the dawn’s dim light. When her boss left in the evening, her small frame was still hunched over the bench performing tests. She leapt at overtime hours and routinely got results in a fraction of the time it took others. What’s more, she was smart. Dookhan said she was working on a master’s degree, and just one year later announced that she had completed the work for a doctorate from Harvard University. A banner reading, “Congratulations, Annie,” went up on a cabinet.
The problem was that much of what she said was not true. Dookhan had neither a master’s nor a doctorate. How she managed to get results so fast, no one is quite sure.
“Our turnaround time on a sample was two weeks,” said Anthony Parham, Dookhan’s supervisor at the time. “Annie would get results in about half that time. I figured she was working so hard because she wanted to make her mark.”
Dookhan, 35, has most assuredly done that. Now at the center of the state drug lab scandal, she has confessed to altering tests results and mishandling evidence in some of the thousands of criminal cases she handled. But her trail of deceptions, large and small, goes well beyond that.
(While not minimizing little Annie's lies, I can not help but think of the Bush Cabinet war criminals and the mouthpiece media that left trails of them behind, as well as the endless stream of them now coming forth regarding Syria. No such description of them in my newspaper)
Dookhan, who has pleaded not guilty to all but one of the 27 charges on which she has been indicted, may go down as one of the most prolific liars in public life.
Woah! Think of all the lies we are living under, readers, from the Holohoax™ to 9/11. The lies that shape our reality, according to some. For the Globe to make that statement about little Annie Dookhan is astounding. As far as I am concerned, Condoleezza Rice has her beat by a country mile.
Her actions have not only raised questions about the reliability of evidence used in 34,000 criminal cases, but have already resulted in the release of 286 offenders, some of whom are drug dealers, to communities throughout Massachusetts.
In earlier years, her fabulations had much less devastating effects. She claimed honors she did not receive and in conversation gave her parents jobs they did not have. She inflated her salary and gave herself grandiose job titles, referring to herself in an e-mail as “an on-call supervisor for chemical and biological terrorism.” And while she conducted an online flirtation with one prosecutor for years, indicating at the start that she was a divorcee yearning for love, she simultaneously rattled off a succession of chatty e-mails to her husband.
As investigators continue to assess the full scope of the damage she has done, the question that hovers over it all is why. Part of the answer seems simple: to make herself seem more important. A petite 4 feet 11 inches and a native of Trinidad, Dookhan appeared determined even as a young immigrant girl to outrun expectations and the perceived anonymity of her circumstances. Notably intelligent, “Little Annie” Dookhan was going to make sure that she would never be overlooked.
For a long time the little white lies — largely embellishments to her personal narrative — seemed to work.
As opposed to whopper war lies that lead to the deaths of millions.
Are you sure she just didn't mislead, Globe?
But in 2009 several developments, including a second miscarriage and a court ruling that changed the rules for chemists and threatened her astonishing productivity, seemed to shake her profoundly. It was then that Dookhan began telling a much different kind of lie as she groped for control over circumstances both at home and at work that threatened to overwhelm her....
I'm overwhelmed, readers. I'd like to have sympathy for her; however, where is the sympathy for all those falsely imprisoned?
--more--"
And Annie was trying to have an adulterous affair?
"Chemist often called, wrote to prosecutor" by Andrea Estes and Scott Allen | Globe Staff, October 17, 2012
The chemist at the center of the state drug lab scandal carried on an unauthorized, sometimes personal, e-mail and phone correspondence with a prosecutor whose drug evidence she analyzed, a violation of office protocol that may give defense attorneys even more ammunition to throw out drug convictions involving Annie Dookhan’s work.
See: Mass. Drug Labs a Mess
Though State Police have concluded that Dookhan was not romantically involved with Norfolk Assistant District Attorney George Papachristos, Dookhan’s husband was suspicious. At one point, Dookhan’s husband tried repeatedly to contact a startled Papachristos, according to someone involved in the investigation, apparently out of concern that the two were having an affair.
The tone in the dozens of e-mails between the two was sometimes quite familiar, according to the person who has read them. Dookhan opened up about her life, confiding in one e-mail that she was unhappy in her marriage, though it is unclear from a printout of the e-mails whether she sent it. On another occasion, Papachristos reminded her that their relationship was strictly “professional” in response to something Dookhan wrote....
As much as anything, the e-mails may offer insight into the mind of Dookhan....
Many have wondered what would possess the bright, hardworking 34-year-old mother of a young son to behave so recklessly.
In the e-mails, Dookhan sent Papachristos chatty messages punctuated by exclamation points, according to the person involved in the investigation who has read the messages.
I'm chatty when I'm angry.
There is no suggestion in the correspondence that he asked her to alter results or provide other favors, but Dookhan had a reputation in the lab for being especially close to Norfolk prosecutors.
Gloria Phillips, an evidence officer, told police that Dookhan “always wanted Norfolk County” cases to analyze.
Because they care about the won-loss record, folks, not the truth or justice.
Dookhan appeared to be doing a favor for Norfolk law enforcement officials when she was caught in June 2011 taking evidence from 60 Norfolk drug cases out of a storage area without authorization. Her former supervisor, Elizabeth O’Brien, told State Police Dookhan had taken cases out of order and did not sign them out as required.
Dookhan’s co-workers told State Police that she was going through a “long divorce” from her husband, though the two still live together in Franklin. O’Brien added that Dookhan was “going through some personal problems.”
In summer 2009, Papachristos told Dookhan with some alarm that her husband had tried to contact him repeatedly, though they did not speak.
“I have to tell my bosses,” Papachristos told Dookhan. “Tell him not to call again.”
--more--"
He tried to warn you:
"Ex-chemist’s husband warned prosecutor she was a liar; New details in lab scandal" by Brian Ballou | Globe Staff, January 09, 2013
The husband of disgraced chemist Annie Dookhan warned a prosecutor that his wife was a chronic liar in ominous text messages nearly two years before she was finally caught improperly removing drug evidence from a state lab, according to new State Police documents obtained by the Globe.
And no one wanted to listen, huh?
Surren Dookhan has not spoken publicly about his wife’s free fall from prolific chemist to the defendant at the heart of the biggest law enforcement scandal in recent Massachusetts history.
But former assistant Norfolk district attorney George Papachristos told police that Dookhan’s husband contacted him in August 2009 after he befriended Annie Dookhan.
“This is Annie’s husband do not believe her, she’s a liar, she’s always lying,” Surren Dookhan texted to the prosecutor, according to an interview Papachristos gave to State Police on Oct. 3, 2012. “She is looking for sympathy and attention.”
I guess she thinks she found it now.
Surren Dookhan’s warning did not prevent Papachristos from continuing a friendly, sometimes personal correspondence with Annie Dookhan that ultimately forced him to resign his position when their e-mail exchanges became public late last year.
Now I'm starting to get suspicious. Nothing happened? Yeah, right.
Dookhan has been indicted on 27 counts of obstructing justice and altering drug evidence, casting doubt on the reliability of her work in thousands of cases.
The Papachristos interview is among of a raft of new documents obtained by the Globe that show both the depths of Dookhan’s deception and the ineffectiveness of her bosses at the Jamaica Plain lab. For example, Dookhan had a key to the evidence safe for six months after she was caught improperly removing 90 drug samples in June 2011.
The State Police documents provide new details on Dookhan’s alleged misconduct in three of the six cases in which she faces charges for certifying that a sample contained illegal drugs when it did not.
In one 2010 Boston case, Dookhan certified that a sample taken from Miguel Vasquez contained cocaine when re-testing showed the substance was inositol, which is often sold as a dietary supplement at natural food stores.
In two other Boston cases, the documents show defendants Paul Flannelly and Stephen Goudreau were prosecuted for drug possession based on evidence that contained no illegal drugs.
Already, prosecutors have released at least 159 defendants who were convicted based on drug analyses by Dookhan, who cultivated close relationships with prosecutors, even telling one that she saw her job as getting drug dealers “off the street.”
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Related:
Chemist’s e-mails show ties to prosecutors
Prosecutor with ties to drug lab chemist resigns
She cost him his job and cost you in other way$, taxpayers:
"Costs climb in state drug lab scandal" by John R. Ellement | Globe Staff, October 26, 2012
In its first detailed tally of the impact of the drug lab controversy, the state’s judiciary said it needs $8.72 million to deal with legal challenges to as many as 136,000 criminal cases in which evidence was allegedly mishandled by a state drug lab chemist.
In a letter sent to the Patrick administration Wednesday, Judge Robert Mulligan, the top judge for administration, and Court Administrator Harry Spence said the funds would pay for 18 months of litigation related to chemist Annie Dookhan’s actions over nine years working for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The request pushes to more than $35 million the total cost sought so far for the state to deal with the fallout of the Dookhan scandal....
This at a time of austerity.
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And get ready for some $ticker $hock:
"Cost soars in Mass. drug lab scandal; Defending the thousands affected by suspect evidence could take $332m, state agency says" by John R. Ellement | Globe Staff, November 28, 2012
The state’s public defender agency estimates it could need up to $332 million to represent thousands of people who faced criminal penalties or civil sanctions based on evidence potentially tainted at the now-closed state drug laboratory in Jamaica Plain.
I want Annie to pay for it.
The Committee for Public Counsel Services developed the budget projection as it seeks money from the Patrick administration to deal with the fallout from the drug lab scandal linked to chemist Annie Dookhan, who allegedly told State Police she falsified results.
The scale of the scandal came into sharper focus Tuesday when the attorney leading a state investigation into the drug lab, ordered by Governor Deval Patrick, provided the latest figures on how many people might be affected.
Boston attorney David Meier stressed that even more people could be affected because his team has not completed its inquiry into prosecutions in the district court and the Boston Municipal Court system, where most drug cases are prosecuted in the state’s criminal justice system.
A two-page budget proposal from the public defender agency, obtained by the Globe, sketches out an even direr scenario. The Committee for Public Counsel Services concludes that it needs $12.5 million right now to deal with Dookhan-related litigation and that it will need $62.5 million to deal with the estimated 35,000 criminal cases in which Dookhan played a role in testing seized substances that were suspected of being contraband.
But the public defender agency projects it could need as much as $332 million because the allegations against Dookhan could call into question every drug test performed at the Department of Public Health lab, regardless of whether Dookhan was directly involved....
Not could, it does.
--more--"
Other costs:
7 defendants gain relief in cases tied to state lab scandal
More drug cases stayed in wake of lab scandal
Man freed in drug-lab scandal is arrested on similar charges
Sex offender who had been freed because of drug lab scandal arrested on suspicion of theft
Coakley urged to pick independent investigator in lab scandal
Drug lab investigation getting new leader
Failures at state drug lab warrant independent probe
Integrity at labs is called for
Lab scandal fallout concerns law enforcement officials
That's there concern, not the innocent souls in the slammer.
State makes progress on legal mess from drug lab
So says the Boston Globe. Yeah, clean up that mess quick and let's get back to business as usual.
Mass. crime lab troubles were isolated, study finds
PFFFFFFFFFFFT!
State chemist faces 24 more charges in lab scandal
Former state chemist pleads not guilty
Annie Dookhan pleads not guilty to charges in drug lab scandal
Ex-state chemist Annie Dookhan pleads not guilty
Why is she continuing to cost taxpayer's money with the legal game?
Crime lab errors create overload for prosecutors
They are comparing it to a "natural disaster?" Puh-leeze!
Mass. justice sends two drug lab cases to high court
SJC to consider queries related to drug lab
And the state's answer to all this?
"After failures, DPH seeks 30 new staffers to boost inspection ability" by Andy Metzger | State House News Service, March 01, 2013
FITCHBURG — Interim Commissioner of Public Health Lauren Smith said Thursday that when she took over the department, following a deadly meningitis outbreak and the closure of a crime lab that shook confidence in the regulators, she engaged in a “frank and brutally honest introspection” with her staff.
One result of that introspection is a proposed $32 million budget increase at DPH, bringing the total amount to $549 million, which would allow for increased inspections and oversight of health care, hazardous material, and substance abuse facilities. That would fund 30 new positions and send $1 million to the Board of Registration in Pharmacy, Smith said.
“The public in general goes through its business, its daily life and appropriately assumes that the services, the restaurants, the beaches, the mammography machines, or everywhere it goes, that someone has looked at that, and someone has made sure that it’s OK,” said Smith. “Our role, as I see it, is to make sure that the public’s assumption that those things are well taken care of is actually true.”
Meaning it isn't, proving the state is a colossal failure. If they can't protect our health, they ain't worth s***. I gue$$ that's what happens when certain intere$t$ control state government.
Btw, I no longer make those assumptions.
The public’s confidence in pharmacies was shaken last year as hundreds fell ill around the country with ailments, including fungal meningitis, from tainted steroids produced at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham. That outbreak, which has sickened 714 and killed 48 by this week, led to changes within DPH, including unannounced inspections at the state’s 40 sterile compounding pharmacies. Many of those revealed that the alleged lack of proper protocols at the Framingham pharmacy was not unique....
See: A Compounding Crisis
Related: State halts drug production at Woburn pharmacy
Governor Deval Patrick’s budget is predicated on tax changes that would raise $1.9 billion in additional revenue by closing tax incentives, raising the income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent and lowering the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent.
Related: Highway Robbery in Massachusetts
Mass. Manipulation of State Economic Numbers
But trust them anyway.
Patrick’s tax plan calls for a $1 increase on the cigarette tax and raised taxes on other tobacco products, which would raise roughly $69 million in fiscal 2014 and $166 million in fiscal 2015, Smith said.
Applying the sales tax to candy and soda — items that are currently exempt, as is all other food — would raise $22 million in fiscal 2014 and $53 million in 2015, Smith said.
You know, no one was ever taxed into prosperity.
I'm just wondering where they think we are going to get all this money to spend that they are so counting on.
--more--"
Related: GOP calls for exit of state health and human services chief
UPDATE: New extreme in Dookhan case fallout — alleged murder
That's there concern, not the innocent souls in the slammer.
State makes progress on legal mess from drug lab
So says the Boston Globe. Yeah, clean up that mess quick and let's get back to business as usual.
Mass. crime lab troubles were isolated, study finds
PFFFFFFFFFFFT!
State chemist faces 24 more charges in lab scandal
Former state chemist pleads not guilty
Annie Dookhan pleads not guilty to charges in drug lab scandal
Ex-state chemist Annie Dookhan pleads not guilty
Why is she continuing to cost taxpayer's money with the legal game?
Crime lab errors create overload for prosecutors
They are comparing it to a "natural disaster?" Puh-leeze!
Mass. justice sends two drug lab cases to high court
SJC to consider queries related to drug lab
And the state's answer to all this?
"After failures, DPH seeks 30 new staffers to boost inspection ability" by Andy Metzger | State House News Service, March 01, 2013
FITCHBURG — Interim Commissioner of Public Health Lauren Smith said Thursday that when she took over the department, following a deadly meningitis outbreak and the closure of a crime lab that shook confidence in the regulators, she engaged in a “frank and brutally honest introspection” with her staff.
One result of that introspection is a proposed $32 million budget increase at DPH, bringing the total amount to $549 million, which would allow for increased inspections and oversight of health care, hazardous material, and substance abuse facilities. That would fund 30 new positions and send $1 million to the Board of Registration in Pharmacy, Smith said.
“The public in general goes through its business, its daily life and appropriately assumes that the services, the restaurants, the beaches, the mammography machines, or everywhere it goes, that someone has looked at that, and someone has made sure that it’s OK,” said Smith. “Our role, as I see it, is to make sure that the public’s assumption that those things are well taken care of is actually true.”
Meaning it isn't, proving the state is a colossal failure. If they can't protect our health, they ain't worth s***. I gue$$ that's what happens when certain intere$t$ control state government.
Btw, I no longer make those assumptions.
The public’s confidence in pharmacies was shaken last year as hundreds fell ill around the country with ailments, including fungal meningitis, from tainted steroids produced at the New England Compounding Center in Framingham. That outbreak, which has sickened 714 and killed 48 by this week, led to changes within DPH, including unannounced inspections at the state’s 40 sterile compounding pharmacies. Many of those revealed that the alleged lack of proper protocols at the Framingham pharmacy was not unique....
See: A Compounding Crisis
Related: State halts drug production at Woburn pharmacy
Governor Deval Patrick’s budget is predicated on tax changes that would raise $1.9 billion in additional revenue by closing tax incentives, raising the income tax rate from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent and lowering the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent.
Related: Highway Robbery in Massachusetts
Mass. Manipulation of State Economic Numbers
But trust them anyway.
Patrick’s tax plan calls for a $1 increase on the cigarette tax and raised taxes on other tobacco products, which would raise roughly $69 million in fiscal 2014 and $166 million in fiscal 2015, Smith said.
Applying the sales tax to candy and soda — items that are currently exempt, as is all other food — would raise $22 million in fiscal 2014 and $53 million in 2015, Smith said.
You know, no one was ever taxed into prosperity.
I'm just wondering where they think we are going to get all this money to spend that they are so counting on.
--more--"
Related: GOP calls for exit of state health and human services chief
UPDATE: New extreme in Dookhan case fallout — alleged murder
