Community Corner

JP Drug Lab Scandal: Week in Review

More violent criminals were set free and rearrested, and a high-ranking state official's testimony revealed the lab was never properly accredited.

After a several-week lull, the Hinton Drug Lab scandal made major headlines again this past week when another convict who was set free was rearrested, a high-ranking state public health official revealed the lab had no accreditation and a Suffolk County District Attorney official said this is only the beginning.

  • On Monday: Luis Quiles, a sex offender with a lengthy criminal record, was arraigned on a charge of receiving stolen property in Boston Municipal Court after police spotted him with 13 wristwatches he stole from Macy's at the Chinatown MBTA Station. Quiles was going to plead guilty to drug distribution charges Sept. 6, but held off because Annie Dookhan, the chemist who allegedly mishandled evidence in 34,000 cases, handled the evidence in Quiles' case.
  • Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman Jake Wark told Jamaica Plain Patch Wednesday that Quiles' rearrest, the fourth in Suffolk County regarding the Dookhan drug lab scandal, marks only the beginning. “Generally by the time you’re locked up on a drug charge you’ve got a 100 percent recidivism rate,” he said in the story. “Unfortunately it’s no surprise to anybody.”
  • Also on Wednesday: WCVB.com reported that future indictments are expected against Dookhan, who is charged with obstruction of justice and falsifying academic credentials.
  • MaryAnn Bigby, secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, told a joint audit committee Wednesday that the Hinton Drug Lab—which was located in Jamaica Plain—was not accredited. She also said the supervision at the lab was lacking such that it allowed for Dookhan to be able to sneak thousands of mishandled tests through the system.
  • Several media outlets reported Friday that Massachusetts House of Representatives Republicans are calling for Bigby's resignation in the wake of the Hinton scandal and Framingham drug lab meningitis scandal.


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