Dookhan told state police she 'messed up bad'

BOSTON (WHDH) -- Annie Dookhan, the chemist at the center of the Jamaica Plain drug lab scandal, admitted she faked test results for two to three years, forged signatures and skipped proper procedures, according to a state police report obtained by 7News.

It was inside her Franklin home back in August that Dookhan admitted to state police, "I screwed up big time. I messed up. I messed up bad, it's my fault. I don't want to get the lab in trouble."

She told state police for about three years she would just look at some evidence and label it what she thought it might be, never actually testing it.

She told investigators, "I got the work done, but not properly. I didn't follow the procedures and that was wrong,” and, "I intentionally turned a negative sample into a positive a few times."

That’s just the start, and it's enough to shut down the state's drug lab in Jamaica Plain and call into question tens of thousands of drug cases.

“I’m absolutely outraged not just by what she did, but by fact that her supervisors have known about this for years,” said Patricia DeJuneas, defense attorney.

Patricia DeJuneas is a defense attorney. Dookhan handled the evidence in one of her clients’ cases.

“I believe that no results from that lab are valid the entire time that she’s there,” DeJuneas said.

Interviews with Dookhan's supervisors show they had concerns since 2007 about the high numbers of drug tests she was doing.

One supervisor said, "An average chemist could do 50 to 150 samples a month," while, "...Annie Dookhan's numbers, they were over 500."

Co-workers said lab results and tests were "...falsified and forged by Dookhan."

“People have lost their livelihoods, their houses, family, you name it. There’s been tens of thousands of people likely convicted based on compromised evidence,” said DeJuneas.

Gov. Deval Patrick spoke out Thursday about the situation.

“That is very troubling and very serious,” Patrick said. “The attorney general is investigating. State police is doing exactly what they should be doing. The attorney general gets to make the decision about charges. I fully expect, and indeed I hope, that there are charges,” said Patrick.

The lab scandal has put thousands of cases in jeopardy based on evidence that was handled by Dookhan. Several inmates have been released from prison, and more could be released.

The investigation could extend beyond the cases that Annie Dookhan signed off on, because a defense attorney said Dookhan testified that she did peer reviews on other chemists’ cases and helped train other chemists.

Patrick promised that Dookhan and anyone else who knew what was going on will be held accountable.

The criminal investigation remains open and ongoing, according to a statement released by attorney general Martha Coakley on Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.