{"id":324679,"date":"2026-08-19T04:25:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T04:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324679\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T04:25:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T04:25:04","slug":"13-penn-state-frat-bros-busted-in-cocaine-trafficking-ring-including-ny-student-at-top-of-the-chain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/324679\/","title":{"rendered":"13 Penn State frat bros busted in cocaine trafficking ring\u2014including NY student at ‘top of the chain’"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than a dozen Penn State frat brothers were busted for running a complex cocaine trafficking ring out of two separate fraternities that forced young pledges to cut and bag the drugs then sold to students, according to prosecutors. <\/p>\n

A whopping 14 people \u2014 including a Long Island native at the \u201cvery top of the chain\u201d \u2014 were slapped with charges in connection to the multi-state trafficking scheme. Four of the charged are current Penn State students, while nine are alumni, and one is a dad.<\/p>\n

The fraternities, Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon, reportedly coordinated with suppliers in New York and Philadelphia, trafficking in the coke and distributing it mainly to Penn State students. <\/p>\n

Ring leader traffickers Agostino Abbatiello and Thomas Robinson. Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General<\/p>\n

Attorney General Dave Sunday announces charges against 14 students, including Thomas Robinson (pictured) involved in a campus drug ring on Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. The charges are related to cocaine being trafficked into Penn State. Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a coordinated and highly-profitable drug-trafficking crew revolving around two senior members of the fraternities, other fraternity brothers, and pledges,\u201d Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, according to the evidence uncovered, cutting and packaging cocaine was, for some pledges, an indoctrination into the fraternities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sunday noted during a Monday press conference<\/a> that 24-year-old Agostino Abbatiello, of Westbury, Nassau\u00a0County, was \u201cat the very top of the chain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney General Dave Sunday announces charges against 14 students involved in a campus drug ring. X \/ @PAAttorneyGen<\/p>\n

Lars Zeepvat was charged in connection with the drug ring on Monday, August 17, 2026. The charges are related to cocaine trafficked into Penn State. Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General<\/p>\n

Abbatiello and Thomas Robinson \u2014 of Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon fraternities, respectively \u2014 were the main suppliers in the scheme, with Abbatiello frequently traveling to New York to acquire large quantities of cocaine between 2023 and 2024, the investigation found.<\/p>\n

Follow the latest on the cocaine trafficking ring run by Penn State frat bros:<\/p>\n

Abbatiello allegedly distributed cocaine as recently as February 2026, according to court documents<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When he learned law enforcement was interviewing individuals about Penn State drug dealing, he reportedly \u201cbegged them not to talk about his involvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Robinson, the father of one of the students charged with helping to conceal evidence, on Monday, August 17, 2026. Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General<\/p>\n

The cocaine was cut and packaged primarily at the off-campus Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternity houses before being distributed mainly to Penn State students.<\/p>\n

Abbatiello, Robinson, Mohammed Huraibi, and Lars Zeepvat face felony charges including corrupt organizations, conspiracy, and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity.<\/p>\n

Penn State\u2019s main campus in State College, Pennsylvania, is colloquially known as \u201cHappy Valley.\u201d lucky-photo \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

A second Long Islander \u2014 Robert Zanolla, 24, of Manhasset \u2014 is also charged with felony conspiracy and criminal use of a communication facility.<\/p>\n

Also charged, with misdemeanors, are: Liam Smith, Michael Brogno, Kaden Howe, Connor Hurleigh, Seth Beardsley, Kyle Ridpath, Daniel Price, and Charles Wiseman.<\/p>\n

Paul Robinson, Thomas\u2019 father, is charged with felony tampering, hindering apprehension for taking steps to conceal evidence, including a safe containing drugs and cash, and obstructing the investigation.<\/p>\n

Robert Zanolla was charged in connection with the drug ring. Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General<\/p>\n

Mohammed Huraibi was charged in connection with the drug ring. Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General<\/p>\n

Penn State has since suspended Delta Upsilon while it investigates the frat and said Sigma Chi is not recognized by the university and operates outside its supervision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are horrified by these serious allegations against current and former students,\u201d said Andrea Dowhower, Penn State\u2019s vice president for Student Affairs. \u201cCriminal activity, including hazing, such as this has no place at our institution, and we will cooperate with law enforcement in any way we can. We will continue to enhance our efforts around health and safety and hazing educational efforts for all our organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a dozen Penn State frat brothers were busted for running a complex cocaine trafficking ring out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24453,24783,24454,70843,776,9,11,10,33485,3909,58],"class_list":["post-324679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-cocaine","tag-drug-dealers","tag-drug-trade","tag-fraternities","tag-long-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-penn-state","tag-pennsylvania","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}