Pennsylvania charges 14 in alleged Penn State cocaine trafficking ring

Fraternity pledges used to package cocaine, attorney general says

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday announced charges this week against 14 people connected to what he called an “upper-level trafficking organization for this region in Pennsylvania,” operating through two fraternities at Penn State University.

“There was nothing junior or childlike about this type of conduct,” Sunday said when announcing the charges. “This was an upper-level trafficking organization for this region in Pennsylvania.”

Agostino Abbatiello, 24, has been accused by prosecutors of being the ringleader, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the BBC. A member of Sigma Chi, Abbatiello turned himself in to Pennsylvania police on Tuesday after failing to appear for a 17 August arraignment. A lawyer for Abbatiello did not respond to a request for comment from the BBC.

The complaint alleges the ring drew in members and pledges of Delta Upsilon, an all-male fraternity on Penn State’s campus, as both customers and labor. According to co-defendant Lars Zeepvat, also a Sigma Chi member, Abbatiello was the “largest distributor of cocaine at Penn State University.”

The alleged scheme began with fraternity members selling cocaine to one another, prosecutors said, and grew into an operation that prosecutors say drew in 13 other current and former students. Zeepvat told investigators that he noticed a “shift” in Abbatiello when the latter began sourcing cocaine from his hometown in New York, after an earlier Pennsylvania supply dried up. From that point, according to the complaint, Abbatiello was “selling drugs for profit, rather than sourcing it for himself and a few friends.”

By late 2023, prosecutors said, Delta Upsilon pledges were being used to package the drugs. “By late 2023, several of the pledges at the Delta Upsilon fraternity were used to package the drugs into half gram bags for sale,” the complaint reads. Sunday described “a pattern of events that showed cutting and bagging cocaine was, for some pledges, an indoctrination into the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternities.”

Two Delta Upsilon members, Mohammed Huraibi and Thomas Robinson, partnered in the cocaine business in 2023 and began making larger purchases from Abbatiello, according to the complaint. By fall 2024, prosecutors said, Robinson and Abbatiello were recruiting more help from friends and fraternity brothers.

The investigation that broke the case open began with a confidential informant who told police that a man using the nickname “T-Rob” had been selling cocaine from the Delta Upsilon fraternity house, according to court documents obtained by NBC News. Investigators said Robinson accepted Venmo payments under the username “Tom-Robinson,” making him easy to trace.

Under the direction of detectives, the informant made several cocaine buys from Robinson. In December 2024, police raided Robinson’s room at the Delta Upsilon house in State College. Robinson initially thought the raid was a prank and did not follow officers’ orders, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. Police used a stun gun on him, CBS reported. Inside, officers found a 220-gram bag of marijuana, pill bottles, drug paraphernalia, a handgun in a safe and a magazine with ammunition, according to CBS.

Robinson pointed police to Abbatiello as his supplier — and the rest, prosecutors said, “unravelled.”

Abbatiello faces multiple counts of illegal drug possession with intent to deliver and conspiracy, all felonies. Robinson, Zeepvat and Huraibi have also been charged with felonies. Most of the other suspects face misdemeanours.

Penn State University said it was horrified by the allegations. “Criminal activity, including hazing, such as this has no place at our institution, and we will co-operate with law enforcement in any way we can,” Andrea Dowhower, the university’s vice-president for student affairs, said in a statement.

Delta Upsilon is facing interim suspension from Penn State. Sigma Chi operates outside the university’s oversight. Sigma Chi Executive Director Michael Church said in a statement reported by CBS that the alleged conduct was “an egregious violation of our values,” that members charged had been suspended and that the chapter involved was also placed on interim suspension. Delta Upsilon Executive Director Justin Kirk said his organization was working closely with Penn State and investigators, and that the suspects associated with the fraternity had “either been expelled, suspended or resigned.”

“These are very serious charges and the next steps will be preliminary hearings,” Sunday said.