(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced defendant Carolyn Tolin, 46, of Centereach, was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in November to Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree and Attempted Operating as a Major Trafficker for running a narcotics business over the dark web in her Centereach residence.
“This defendant exploited technology to run a deadly narcotics enterprise. Her resourcefulness and business acumen could have led to legitimate success, but instead she chose to poison our community and believed she could outsmart the law,” said District Attorney Tierney. “That calculation proved wrong, and she will now face the consequences in prison.”
According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during her guilty plea allocution, from September 2024 to March 2025, Tolin possessed and sold over $75,000 worth of cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin. Tolin led her narcotics operation through her dark web vendor site MamaKnowsBrown.
Through MamaKnowsBrown, Tolin offered heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine and powder cocaine to customers both locally and nation-wide. Tolin would also allow customers multiple shipping options and the opportunity to give feedback and reviews of each product.
After receiving an order, Tolin arranged for the narcotics to be shipped through the United States Postal Service or UPS to customers across the country. Tolin used Uber to deliver products locally within Suffolk County and received payment for these sales in the form of cryptocurrency, which she would convert to cash.
On March 14, 2025, members of law enforcement executed a search warrant at Tolin’s Centereach residence and within the garage, recovered large amounts of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine. Also, within the garage, law enforcement recovered computer equipment, cell phones, packages in the process of being prepared for shipment, as well as additional envelopes, packaging materials, a heat sealer, a digital scale and Tolin’s signature overdose warning cards.
On November 20, 2025, Tolin pleaded guilty to one count of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree, a Class A-1 felony, and one count of Attempted Operating as a Major Trafficker, a Class B felony, before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz.
On January 22, 2025, Tolin was sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by 5 years post-release supervision. She was represented by Ian Fitzgerald, Esq.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Kristin Barnes and Matthew Laube of the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by Richard Pedigo of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Fentanyl Task Force.
