Online dealer: Woman who ran digital drug market out of house is sentenced
The Cohalan court complex in Central Islip. Credit: Rick Kopstein
A Centereach woman was sentenced to 15 years in prison Thursday for operating an online drug market through which she sold cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and crack on Long Island and around the country, prosecutors said.
Carolyn Tolin, 46, ran the website MamaKnowsBrown from her Centereach home starting in September 2024 through last March when she was arrested after police raided her home with a search warrant, the office of Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
Tolin sold more than $75,000 worth of illegal drugs online on the dark web, shipping through the mail and using Uber to make deliveries through Suffolk County. She pleaded guilty in November to criminal possession of a controlled substance and attempted operating as a major trafficker, according to the district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors said Tolin would ship the drugs ordered online through the U.S. Postal Service or UPS. Prosecutors said she would accept payment through cryptocurrency, which was later converted to cash, the district attorney's office said.
Police seized "large amounts" of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine from Tolin's home and garage. Police also found packaging materials, a digital scale, cellphones, computers and personalized overdose warning cards that were sent with deliveries, prosecutors said.
"This defendant exploited technology to run a deadly narcotics enterprise," Tierney said in a statement. "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."
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
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