24-year-old Bristol County woman sentenced to prison for selling lethal batch of fentanyl to Shannon Mulligan

A 24-year-old Attleboro woman, who sold a lethal batch of fentanyl to her 22-year-old friend while knowing the victim was going through rehabilitation, pled guilty today in Fall River Superior Court to Manslaughter and other charges, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced.

In addition to the Manslaughter indictment, Sydney Dahmani also pled guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Cocaine and Unlawful Possession of a Firearm.

She was sentenced to serve three to five-and-a-half years in state prison.

The victim, Norton resident Shannon Mulligan, who was 22-year-old at the time of her death on March 6, 2021, knew she had a drug issue and entered into a rehab facility in November 2020.

On January 13, 2021, while the victim was in the rehab facility, the defendant contacted her on social media to tell her that she had fentanyl. The victim responded and stated that she was in a sober living facility getting sober. Dahmani messaged the victim again on February 26, 2021, saying once again that she had fentanyl. The victim did not reply until March 5, the day that she was released from the rehab facility. That same day, the victim met with Dahmani at her residence in Attleboro. The victim would later overdose in her family residence in Norton, where she resided with her mother, in the early morning hours on March 6, 2021. The cause of death was acute fentanyl and cocaine intoxication.

A later review of Dahmani’s Facebook Messenger records showed a consciousness of guilt. In one conversation, in the days following victim’s death, Dahmani stated that she “had a body on her hands”. In another conversation, in response to an inquiry about victim’s death, Dahmani responded that if the person was with the victim when she died that they were guilty too.

On October 1, 2021, a State Police detectives assigned to DA Quinn’s office and Attleboro Police went to execute a search warrant for Dahmani’s phone. Police stopped a rental car the defendant was a passenger in outside of her apartment in Attleboro. During that stop, Dahmani made furtive movements. Police located $3,055 in cash in the car, along with a small amount of heroin and cocaine. The driver told police that Dahmani paid her $100 to drive her to Watertown and that the rental vehicle was in Dahmani’s name. Police then obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s apartment and located more cocaine and a firearm. Dahmani was interviewed at the police station and admitted to meeting with the victim on the day that she got out of rehab just prior to her death.

“This case is a terrible tragedy for the victim and her family. She had her whole life ahead of her and her death has had a horrific impact on her family. It is particularly offensive that the defendant was selling fentanyl to the victim, knowing that she was undergoing substance abuse rehabilitation,” District Attorney Quinn said. “I am pleased the defendant accepted responsibility for her reckless conduct. My thoughts are with the family, and I hope they can begin to heal from this traumatic ordeal.”

The victim was a former honor roll student, a varsity athlete and a mother of a young child.

During the sentencing hearing, the victim’s mother, father and sister all gave impact statements about how the loss of the victim has affected their lives and the life of the victim’s daughter.

The sister’s statement read in part:

“My sister was actively trying to get clean, but it’s extremely hard to do that when your so-called friend is dangling the very stuff you are addicted to in front of you, practically harassing you the entire time you are in treatment. Substance use disorder is a stigmatized disease, which Sydney profited off of. Sydney was no friend of Shannon like she likes to claim she was. A true friend would encourage and support their friend during their journey towards sobriety, not use their illness for profit by selling them deadly substances and tempting them any chance they can get. Who knows where we would be now if Sydney decided to be an actual friend to Shannon and encourage her sobriety instead of selling her the same poison that killed her? Maybe she would still be with us today almost 3 years clean. Sydney did not support Shannon’s sobriety because in her eyes Shannon was nothing but another one of her customers.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Matthew Lopes.