The Penn State cocaine case includes one defendant who was never a student at all. He is the father of one of the accused, and prosecutors say he tried to hide a safe holding drugs and cash while investigators were building the case.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges Monday against 14 people over an alleged cocaine trafficking operation that ran through two off-campus fraternity houses in 2023 and 2024. Thirteen of them were Penn State students at or around the time. The fourteenth is Paul Robinson, father of defendant Thomas Robinson. He is charged with felony tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension for allegedly concealing the safe and obstructing the investigation.
Hindering apprehension means taking steps to keep someone from being arrested or prosecuted. Both charges are felonies in Pennsylvania, which means he is facing the same tier of exposure as the people accused of moving the product.
Investigators say the operation revolved around two senior fraternity members, Agostino Abbatiello and Thomas Robinson, who they allege were the main suppliers. According to the attorney general’s office, the two made regular runs to Philadelphia and New York for bulk quantities of cocaine, which was brought back and cut and packaged primarily inside the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternity houses, then sold mostly to other Penn State students. Most payments were made in cash or through payment apps.
The line that pushed this story national came from the attorney general himself. Sunday called it a coordinated and highly profitable drug trafficking crew built around two senior fraternity members, other brothers, and pledges. He then said that according to the evidence, cutting and packaging cocaine was, for some pledges, an indoctrination into the fraternities.
In plain terms, prosecutors are saying young men who wanted into these houses were put to work processing drugs as part of getting in. When a reporter asked at Monday’s press conference whether hazing charges would follow, Sunday declined to answer.
Abbatiello, 24, is described as the leader of the operation. He did not show up for his scheduled arraignment Monday, surrendered Tuesday morning, and was denied bail. His charges include possession with intent to deliver and conspiracy. He, Thomas Robinson, Mohammed Hurabi, and Lars Zeepvat all face felony corrupt organizations charges along with conspiracy and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity. A corrupt organizations charge is Pennsylvania’s version of a racketeering count, used when prosecutors allege an ongoing criminal enterprise rather than a one-time offense, and it carries heavier penalties than a standalone drug charge.
The case was built with the State College Police Department and the 54th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury. A grand jury is a panel that reviews evidence in secret over an extended period and decides whether there is enough to bring charges, which is why a case covering conduct from 2023 and 2024 is only now becoming public.
Penn State moved the same day the charges came down. The university placed Delta Upsilon on interim suspension while its Office of Student Accountability and Conflict Response investigates, and said current students will go through the individual conduct process. Andrea Dowhower, vice president for Student Affairs, said the university was horrified by the allegations.
The university also drew a line around the other house. Penn State said Sigma Chi is not a recognized organization and operates outside the university’s support and oversight, meaning the school has no formal authority over it and, by implication, no responsibility for what happened inside it.
At least four of the people charged are current students. The rest have moved on.
Locally, the story is not settling. Mark Huncik, president of a State College neighborhood association, called this week for the university and borough officials to answer residents’ questions about the operation running out of two houses in their neighborhood. A Penn State spokesperson responded Friday.
Everyone charged is presumed innocent. Nobody has been convicted.
