Centereach Woman Ran Nationwide Narcotics Operation from Her Home

Carolyn Tolin

SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y. — A Centereach woman who operated a large-scale drug trafficking business through the dark web has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced.

Carolyn Tolin, 46, pleaded 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 enterprise from her Centereach residence using the dark web vendor site MamaKnowsBrown.

“This defendant exploited technology to operate a deadly narcotics business,” District Attorney Tierney said. “Her intelligence and organizational skills could have been used for legitimate success, but instead she chose to endanger lives and believed she could evade law enforcement. That belief proved wrong.”

According to court documents and statements made during her guilty plea, between September 2024 and March 2025, Tolin possessed and sold more than $75,000 worth of cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin. Through her online alias MamaKnowsBrown, she marketed heroin, fentanyl, crack cocaine, and powder cocaine to customers locally and across the United States.

Tolin offered multiple shipping options and allowed customers to leave feedback and reviews, mimicking legitimate e-commerce platforms. Orders were shipped nationwide using the U.S. Postal Service and UPS, while local deliveries within Suffolk County were made using Uber. Payments were accepted in cryptocurrency, which Tolin later converted into cash.

On March 14, 2025, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Tolin’s home. Inside her garage, investigators recovered large quantities of fentanyl, heroin, and cocaine, along with computers, cell phones, packaged narcotics ready for shipment, envelopes, packaging materials, a heat sealer, a digital scale, and Tolin’s signature overdose warning cards.

On November 20, 2025, Tolin pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz. She was formally sentenced on January 22, 2025, to 15 years in state prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision.

Tolin was represented by attorney Ian Fitzgerald, Esq. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Kristin Barnes and Matthew Laube of the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau. The investigation was led by Richard Pedigo of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office in collaboration with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Fentanyl Task Force.