{"id":267726,"date":"2026-08-18T20:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267726\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:34:11","slug":"penn-state-frat-drug-ring-charged-by-pennsylvania-ag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/267726\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn State frat drug ring charged by Pennsylvania AG"},"content":{"rendered":"

Penn State frat pledges were made to cut and bag cocaine for college drug ring, authorities say<\/p>\n

\"Associated<\/p>\n

Penn State fraternity pledges were made to cut and package cocaine for a drug ring that was run out of two off-campus frat houses, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The illicit initiation was revealed Monday as Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday charged 14 people \u2014 including 13 current or former Penn State students \u2014 in connection with the alleged drug ring.<\/p>\n

The man accused of leading the operation, 24-year-old Agostino Abbatiello, surrendered on Tuesday after failing to appear for a scheduled arraignment on Monday on charges including possession with intent to deliver and conspiracy. He was ordered jailed without bail.<\/p>\n

A message seeking comment was left for Abbatiello\u2019s lawyer.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Agostino Abbatiello\u2019s booking photo<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

According to court documents, the drug ring operated in 2023 and 2024, fueled by bulk quantities of cocaine that two of the charged men obtained from contacts in Philadelphia and New York.<\/p>\n

They cut and bagged the drugs mainly at the Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon fraternity houses, using frat brothers and pledges as labor, then distributed it through Penn State students, court documents said.<\/p>\n

One of the men said a co-defendant was the \u201clargest distributor of cocaine\u201d at Penn State and would \u201cboast about how much money he was making from selling cocaine.\u201d At least four of the defendants are current students, Sunday\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very serious criminal conduct. There was nothing junior or childlike about this type of conduct,\u201d Sunday said at a news conference on Monday. \u201cThis was an upper-level trafficking organization for this region in Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four people are charged with conspiracy, dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, felony corrupt organizations and other offenses. Another defendant is charged with felony conspiracy and criminal use of a communication facility.<\/p>\n

Eight defendants are charged with misdemeanor drug possession.<\/p>\n

Paul Robinson, the father of a student who was accused with Abbatiello of being one of the ring’s two main suppliers, is charged with felony tampering, hindering apprehension and obstructing the investigation. Authorities say he took steps to conceal evidence, including a safe containing drugs and cash.<\/p>\n

Court documents did not list a lawyer who could speak on Robinson\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n

Penn State said it placed Delta Upsilon on interim suspension, noting Sigma Chi is not recognized by the university and is not subject to its oversight.<\/p>\n

Delta Upsilon Executive Director Justin Kirk said anyone involved in the drug ring who had ties to Delta Upsilon was expelled or suspended from the fraternity if they did not resign.<\/p>\n

Sigma Chi\u2019s executive director, Michael Church, said the three Sigma Chi members who were charged have been suspended pending the outcome of the judicial process. He said the fraternity has suspended all operations at its Penn State chapter on an interim basis \u201cwhile we determine whether these allegations reflect individual conduct or organized chapter activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis conduct is an egregious violation of our values and has no place in our fraternity, community, or society,” Church said, adding that any members involved \u201cwill be held fully accountable to the extent available to our fraternity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Penn State frat pledges were made to cut and bag cocaine for college drug ring, authorities say Penn…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[112850,9940,10739,112846,112851,66474,13814,108499,13808,112859,4599,4743,112849,112858,112591,5876,112857,112852,112847,112856,36469,1399,7133,237,6495,112854,3743,28,30,29,69,112853,112848,112855,1837,10603],"class_list":["post-267726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-agostino-abbatiello","tag-attorney-general","tag-cocaine","tag-cocaine-ring","tag-college-drugs","tag-conduct","tag-conspiracy","tag-corrupt-organizations","tag-court-document","tag-current-student","tag-dave-sunday","tag-defendant","tag-delta-upsilon","tag-delta-upsilon-fraternity-house","tag-drug-ring","tag-drug-trafficking","tag-former-penn-state-student","tag-fraternity-houses","tag-fraternity-pledges","tag-interim-suspension","tag-jbnd","tag-man","tag-monday","tag-new-york","tag-operation","tag-paul-robinson","tag-penn-state","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-philadelphia","tag-possession-with-intent","tag-sigma-chi","tag-student-charges","tag-sunday","tag-university"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267726","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=267726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}