By News staff
BOSTON (AP) -- A chemist at a Massachusetts drug lab accused of faking test results in criminal cases has been sentenced to three to five years in prison.
Annie Dookhan, of Franklin, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, perjury and tampering with evidence. Friday in Suffolk Superior Court.
She'll also be on probation for two years when she gets out of court.
Dookhan sent the state's criminal justice system into a tailspin last year when state police shut down the state Department of Public Health lab she worked at after discovering the extent of her misconduct.
Since the lab closed in August 2012, at least 1,100 criminal cases have been dismissed or not prosecuted because of tainted evidence or other fallout from the lab's shutdown.