Convict ‘Out On Annie Dookhan’ Arrested Again

While Annie Dookhan faced charges of her own in court on Wednesday, a convicted criminal, free because of Dookhan’s malfeasance, was being arraigned on charges stemming from a Tuesday night arrest.

Jonathan Vaughan, 26, was drinking Natural Ice beer at a Chelsea McDonalds Tuesday night. Police arrived and arrested Vaughan. As they escorted him out of the establishment, he began to thrash violently against the officers and was eventually restrained, according to a statement from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

While being escorted, Vaughan allegedly said, “I just got out on Annie Dookhan and I ain’t going back to jail,” according to the statement.

Police found eight baggies of suspected crack cocaine on Vaughan, according to the statement.

Vaughan was released Dec. 14 from a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for a 2011 conviction for possession of a Class B substance with intent to distribute, subsequent offense, and possession with intent to distribute in a school zone, according to the statement. Dookhan was the chemist in that case. Vaughan is due back in Boston Municipal Court on that case Jan. 18.

Vaughan faces new charges of possession of a Class B substance with intent to distribute, subsequent offense, disorderly conduct, drinking in public, trespassing, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer, according to the statement. He is being held on $25,000 cash bail.

 while she was an employee at the Hinton drug lab in Jamaica Plain that has convoluted 34,000 criminal drug cases in Massachusetts. More than 200 of those convicted have been set free pending a hearing, and six in Suffolk County, including Vaughan, have been arrested on new charges.

Dookhan pleaded not guilty to charges against her in Middlesex and Norfolk counties on Wednesday, according to the Boston Herald. The Boston Globe reported that Surren Dookhan, Annie Dookhan’s husband, sent a text message to George Papachristos, former Norfolk Count assistant district attorney and a noted friend of Annie Dookhan, calling her a liar.

Dookhan pleaded not guilty Dec. 19. 2012 to four counts of obstruction of justice, eight counts of tampering with evidence and one count of falsely pretending to hold a degree from a college or university in Suffolk Superior Court. 

For more information on the state drug lab crisis, check out the Jamaica Plain Patch topic page.