{"id":267722,"date":"2026-08-18T20:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267722\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:28:08","slug":"dad-busted-in-penn-state-frat-bro-cocaine-trafficking-ring-case-is-prominent-pittsburgh-lawyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267722\/","title":{"rendered":"Dad busted in Penn State frat bro cocaine trafficking ring case is prominent Pittsburgh lawyer"},"content":{"rendered":"

A prominent Pittsburgh lawyer has been implicated in the\u00a0Penn State frat brother drug trafficking<\/a>\u00a0scandal \u2014 with his son among the alleged ringleaders.<\/p>\n

Paul Robinson, an attorney with the firm of Meyer, Darragh, Buckler, Bebeneck & Eck\u00a0and onetime frat member,\u00a0is charged with helping to\u00a0hide evidence\u00a0from an alleged multi-state cocaine-trafficking ring in the Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon fraternities at Penn State run by his son, Thomas, and other current and former students.<\/p>\n

In all, 14 people were charged, with Thomas Robinson and Agostino Abbatiello described as the alleged ringleaders of the operation.<\/p>\n

Paul Robinson and his son Thomas Robinson are seen in a photo posted to Facebook on July 21, 2026. Facebook\/Paul Robinson<\/p>\n

Thomas Robinson is seen in a photo posted to Facebook on July 27, 2021. Facebook\/Tom Robinson<\/p>\n

Paul Robinson is charged with felony tampering, hindering apprehension for taking steps to conceal evidence in the case, including a safe stuffed with cash and drugs and obstructing the investigation,\u00a0state prosecutors\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

The elder Robinson earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from New England School of Law in 1992, according to his company profile, which also lists Thomas as one of his children.<\/p>\n

He was treasurer for Delta Sigma Phi as an undergrad, and a member of Phi Alpha Delta while in law school, according to his\u00a0LinkedIn profile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and specializes in transportation, commercial, construction and insurance law.<\/p>\n

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

He is currently a managing attorney at Meyer, Darragh, Buckler, Bebeneck & Eck based in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the law firm told The Post it is aware of the charges filed against Robinson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe allegations concern Mr Robinson individually and do not involve the Firm, its clients, or the legal services provided by the Firm,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cThe Firm is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penn State announced Monday that it is placing Delta Upsilon on interim suspension while an investigation is conducted, but said Sigma Chi operates outside of the university\u2019s oversight.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors claim Thomas Robinson, a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity, and Nassau County resident Agostino Abbatiello, a Sigma Chi frat brother, were the alleged ringleaders of the drug-trading enterprise.<\/p>\n

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

Abbatiello, 24, lives in a spacious single-family home in Westbury, valued at $1.4 million, according to property records.<\/p>\n

The fraternities allegedly coordinated with suppliers in New York and Philadelphia, trafficking in the cocaine and distributing it mainly to Penn State students.<\/p>\n

When an undercover cop busted Robinson, the alleged dealer told authorities Abbatiello sold him batches of cocaine of up to one kilogram for as much as $22,000, a criminal complaint claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paul Robinson (from left), an unnamed son, Laura Nee-Robinson, an unnamed daughter and Thomas Robinson are pictured in a photo posted to Facebook on April 10, 2023. Facebook\/Paul Robinson<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are horrified by these serious allegations against current and former students,\u201d said Andrea Dowhower, vice president for Student Affairs at the college.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\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

The charges were announced Monday by Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday, who called it \u201ca coordinated and highly-profitable drug-trafficking crew\u201d involving frat brothers and their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a new press release, the attorney general said Abbatiello\u00a0surrendered Tuesday morning and was arraigned.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are pleased to report that the most significant members of this cocaine-trafficking organization are accounted for, and will have their fair process in court,\u201d Sunday said Tuesday. \u201cThese are very serious charges and the next steps will be preliminary hearings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Robinson did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday. His son could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

Abbatiello\u2019s dad, Mario Abbatiello, told The Post Tuesday: \u201cWe have no comment. We have nothing to do with this. We have no comment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A prominent Pittsburgh lawyer has been implicated in the\u00a0Penn State frat brother drug trafficking\u00a0scandal \u2014 with his son…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10739,11009,112845,3743,73,75,74,302],"class_list":["post-267722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-cocaine","tag-drugs","tag-fraternities","tag-penn-state","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}