Chemist Jailed In State Drug Lab Scandal Out On Parole

BOSTON (CBS/AP) – Annie Dookhan is out of prison.

The former state drug lab chemist who pleaded guilty to faking test results and tampering with evidence in criminal drug cases has been released on parole, according to the Mass Dept. of Corrections.

Dookhan's attorney, Nicolas Gordon, told WBZ-TV Tuesday she was released about a month ago.

Gordon said Dookhan is now on probation for two years.

She was sentenced to 3-to-5 years in prison back in November 2013.

Dookhan sent the state's criminal justice system into a tailspin in 2012 when state police shut down the state Department of Public Health lab she worked at in Jamaica Plain after discovering the extent of her misconduct.

Prosecutors said Dookhan admitted "dry labbing," or testing only a fraction of a batch of samples, then listing them all as positive for illegal drugs, to "improve her productivity and burnish her reputation."

Once the lab closed in August 2012, at least 1,100 criminal cases were dismissed or not prosecuted because of tainted evidence or other fallout from the lab's shutdown.

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