Penn State Frat Bros BUSTED in Cocaine Trafficking Ring: Cops

The evidence showed that cocaine was. primarily packaged at the fraternity. houses and that packaging was done by. fraternity brothers and often time. pledges. >> The attorney general of Pennsylvania has. just announced a bombshell criminal case. against [music] 14 people in connection. with an alleged sprawling cocaine. trafficking operation involving former. [music] Penn State University students. and fraternities. We have the alleged. evidence, the shocking allegations, [music] and more details on how this.

case unfolded. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm [music]. Jesse Weber. Okay, before we jump into this, all you. cat owners out there, who does not want. their cat to be healthy and happy, right? Feeding them smalls, that's the. answer. Why? Look, most cat food out. there is made with cheap fillers and. meat byproducts and artificial. ingredients, and the truth is your cat's. health is paying the price. That's the. way it is. But Smalls is different. Their recipes are made with preservative. free 100% human grade ingredients that.

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reviewers reported that their cats went. ballistic for this stuff. So, your cat's. health starts with what they eat. Try. Smalls. Get 60% off your first order, plus free shipping and treats for life. when you go to smalls.com/sidebar. >> Between 2023 and 2024, large amounts of. cocaine kilos were brought from. Philadelphia and New York to State. College where they were cut and packaged. for sale primarily to Penn State.

students. The two main de dealers. dealers deal dealers, the top of the. chain if you will, were senior members. of the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Kai. fraternities. >> That is Pennsylvania Attorney General. Dave Sunday announcing criminal charges. against 13 former Penn State University. students and a student's father. So, you're talking 14 people in total, all. in connection with this alleged cocaine. trafficking operation that was occurring.

through two off-campus fraternity. houses. And as laid out at yesterday's. press conference and on the AG's. website, Agugustino Abatiello and Thomas. Robinson are accused of being at the. top, the big fish, the main suppliers. who would make these trips to. Philadelphia and New York for these. large quantities of cocaine. And as. we'll get into, it's that alleged. travel, that alleged sophistication, that alleged complexity which adds to. the charges. Now, keep all this in mind,

okay? Because I have a lot more detail. from a court filing that I will get. into, okay? And as I pledged you before, I think one of the most shocking aspects. of this case is that pledges, so. fraternity pledges, you know, the. freshman students who are trying to be. accepted into a fraternity that they. were allegedly directed to cut and. package the cocaine. Now, here's a. better sense of the charges as presented. to a grand jury. Remember, a grand jury,

the standard is really low to get back. criminal charges, right? There has to be. sufficient probable cause. But I want. you to listen to this and listen very. carefully to not only the wild. allegations in general and the charges, but particularly against the father who. we believe to be Paul Robinson. Agugustino Abatiello, Thomas Robinson, and two others, Muhammad Harabi and Lars. Zepfat, are charged with felony corrupt. organizations because this was a. coordinated and organized cocaine.

trafficking operation with regular trips. to those source cities and large amounts. of cocaine being brought back to these. fraternities. They are also charged with conspiracy. dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity. and related offenses. A fifth person, Robert Zenola, is charged with felony. corrupt or I'm sorry, felony conspiracy. and criminal use of communication. facility and related misdemeanors. These are the five primary dealers. The.

eight other student age defendants in. this case have been charged with. misdemeanor counts of drug possession. and paraphernalia. The only non- studentent charge is. Thomas Robinson's father, Paul Robinson, who we allege took steps to conceal. evidence, including a safe containing. drugs and cash and obstruct this. investigation. And AG Sunday emphasized. at least twice during this press. conference that despite the gravity and. the seriousness of these charges, and.

we'll talk about the evidence in a. minute, all these players, all these. defendants are innocent unless proven. guilty. And I'll get into the alleged. evidence in a minute, but my gosh, wow. Right. And when I heard, let's say, lower tiered individuals being charged. with misdemeanors, first thing I thought. about is, okay, do we have potential. cooperating witnesses, lower level. offenses, maybe plea deals possible in. the works? Can they be that connective.

tissue? Are they going to testify. against the big fish, the organizers, the suppliers? I want you to keep that. in mind when we talk about this court. filing in a minute. But when you have a. complex operation like this, it's about. getting the masterminds, right? The ones. who organized all this. But just to be. clear, those charged are Agugustino. Abatiello, Thomas Robinson, Muhammad. Harabi, L. Zipat, Robert Zenola, Liam. Smith, Michael Brogno, Kaden How, Connor.

Hurley, Seth Beardsley, Kyle Ridath, Daniel Price, Charles Weisman, and Paul. Robinson. But a few more interesting. tidbits from this presser. First of all, why are we only seeing charges now? >> With the charges dating back to 2023 or. the investigation, >> um, some might ask, why weren't these. folks arrested earlier if they were. doing this amount of drugs? >> So, the so the incidents occurred during. the course of 2023 2024 and that's when.

obviously we then were brought in. Um, investigations of this nature um, take. time. They're very detailed. And what we. wanted to do was make sure that we took. the time to arrest all of these. individuals so that we could do our best. to root out this criminal organization. to stop it from being able to continue. um, to deal cocaine in the future. Oh, and when Sunday was asked about hazing. related charges for the pledges, right, allegedly being directed to do all this,

he said this is an ongoing. investigation, so perhaps keeping the. door open for future charges. What about. the school's responsibility, the. school's knowledge? I know there may be. many questions about the university in. regards to these students and this. conduct. This is very serious criminal. conduct. There was nothing junior or childlike. about this type of conduct. This was an. upper level trafficking organization for. this region in Pennsylvania. In fact,

multiple witnesses who testified in. front of the grand jury referred to. Batiello as the largest dealer of. cocaine for Penn State University. students. regarding the university's knowledge or. actions in response to this conduct. In consideration of the confidential. nature of the grand jury proceedings and. ongoing act active prosecutions, I can. say this. We did not hear of any drug. packaging happening on Penn State's. campus. Again, the packaging happened at.

off-campus fraternity houses and the. actual drug dealing was largely from. friend to friend, fraternity brother to. fraternity brother, acquaintance to. acquaintance and at fraternity houses. and or during parties or social. engagements. >> Seems to me kind of suggesting the. university may be separated from all. this. But maybe a question that may. arise somehow in the form of. disciplinary action or maybe even. litigation. I mean, the New York Post.

reports that Penn State has suspended. Delta Upsilon while it investigates. these allegations. They also announced. that Sigmakai is not recognized by the. university, actually operates outside of. its supervision. Andrea Dowhower, Penn. State's vice president for student. affairs, had the following statement. released. Quote, "We are horrified by. these serious allegations against. current and former students. criminal. 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. Put that to. the side. So, accompanying this. announcement was the release of an. affidavit of probable cause and a. statement of findings of fact from the. grand jury. I want to read you sections. from that because it provides a lot more. details about how this whole case. unfolded, how people were investigated, the evidence, the potential evidence,

and more specifics of this. investigation. So it says, quote, "The. grand jury is investigating a case which. began in September 2024, wherein. Detective Donald Paul of the State. College Police Department initiated an. investigation into a cocaine. distribution ring being operated in. State College, Pennsylvania. Early in. the investigation, Detective Paul was. able to develop confidential informant. informant CI that conducted several.

control purchases of cocaine from an. individual whose sources was associated. with two fraternities at Penn State. University, Delta Upsilon and Sigmakai. Detective Paul told the grand jury that. a controlled purchase is a method used. to buy illegal drugs using a CI who is. under the control of law enforcement. That is exactly what I expected from. this case. That's what I expected when I. was listening to that press conference. from AG Sunday. Using a CI, a. confidential informant or informants.

like this, it is key. It is key to. seeing how an alleged operation worked, who was involved, creates that. connective link. You're able to get the. substances in question, test them, link. back to who's purchasing, who's selling, who's supplying. That is a link. That is. what you need in a complex organization. The filing continues. After several. control purchases, Detective Paul along. with a state college police department.

arrested Thomas Robinson who was selling. cocaine from the fraternity Delta. Robinson was charged with the deliveries. to the CI as well as items seized after. a search warrant was executed on his. room at the fraternity. By the way, a. defense attorney will try to, you know, hammer away at the search warrant, hammer away at the CI and also the. circumstances surrounding that. transaction, who initiated what, things. like that. Just to keep an eye out for,

quote, "A total of six controlled. purchases were made from Robinson. between September 2024 and December. 2024. Frequency matters." The drugs were. sent to the Pennsylvania State Police. Crime Lab for testing. This is what I. talked about before. The drugs sold by. Robinson were confirmed to be cocaine, and the total weight between the control. purchases and seizure from Robinson's. room totaled 73.8 gram of cocaine. After. Robinson's arrest, this is key, he. cooperated with law enforcement and gave.

information about his source of illegal. narcotics. Robinson told police that. Agugustino Abatiello, who was a Penn. State student and member of the Sigmakai. fraternity, was his source for cocaine. Robinson explained that he obtained. cocaine from Abatiello on numerous. occasions. So now you have an alleged. positive ID of the drugs and reported. cooperation from a key figure in this.

case. Again, I go back to the idea. potential deal for testimony if it's on. the table, but you have alleged. confessions, statements, and while. potentially subject to defense attorneys. trying to quash those, keep them out of. a trial. It could be said to be. potentially damning evidence, right? Particularly if these are recorded. interviews with Robinson. But to give. you an idea of these alleged purchases, it says, quote, he detailed six larger. transactions that took place between.

January 2024 and September 2024. The. first two purchases of cocaine from Abat. Yellow were for between 6 and 8 ounces. on each transaction. The third purchase. took place around March 19th, 2024 when. Robinson purchased 500 gram from. Abatiello for $18,000. The date was confirmed using a photo on. Robinson's phone wherein several pledges. of Delta Upsilon were assisting Robinson. in packaging the cocaine into smaller.

baggies for distribution. We don't know. exactly what that photo is, but if it. purports to show what they're claiming. it shows, you know how that could be. important evidence, how that could be. compelling evidence. And particularly. the metadata can determine when that. photo was taken. And in terms of the. payment, in terms of the money trail, keep that in mind, too. I'm going to get. to that. Quote, Robinson's last drug. purchase from Abatiello occurred around. September 2024 when he purchased an. additional kilogram of cocaine for. $22,000. A lot of money here. The date.

was confirmed because the sale took. place on a weekend of a home football. game at Penn State University. Now, here's the part where the grand jury. lists out the alleged connective tissue. of the players, the defendants. Quote, Robinson explained that he first met. Abatiello through Muhammad Harabi, who I. mentioned before. Herbi was one of. Robinson's fraternity brothers at Delta. Upsilon. Herabi first introduced. Robinson to cocaine at the fraternity. house. Around December 2022, Herabi. first started selling cocaine to other.

brothers within the house after taking. over for another fraternity brother. In. July 2023, Herabi approached Robinson. and asked him to become business. partners in distributing cocaine. When. Robinson and Arabia returned to school. in the fall of 2023, they started buying. drugs together. Initially, Herabi. acquired drugs from Abatiello and later. he introduced Robinson so that he could. purchase directly from Abatiello. Herabi. testified before the grand jury that in. the fall of 2023, so now you're talking. about a cooperating witness. Again, I go.

back to this idea of plea deals. He set. up the first purchase of cocaine from. Abatiello using Snapchat, a messaging. application on his phone. The agreement. was to purchase around 100 grams of. cocaine for $4,000. Robinson and Harab. both contributed cash for the purchase. Snapchat, you're talking about a. potential digital money trail, digital. records for the prosecution. Now, the. defendants would have to explain the.

substance of those conversations, the. payments, their purposes. That's key. evidence. Quote, Batiello brought the. drugs to Delta Upsilon and delivered 100. grams of cocaine to Habi in exchange for. cash. Araby's plan for the cocaine was. to repackage it in half gram bags to. sell for profit. Robinson and Arab would. both make a commission off the sale of. bags of cocaine. Arabian Robinson then. sold the individual bags to other. fraternity members or friends. Robinson. and Arab would communicate with one. another whenever the bags were sold to.

keep track of their profits. As the drug. business grew, Robinson utilized. brothers of the fraternity to assist him. in his drug operation. In fall of 2024, Connor Hurley and Michael Brogna, brothers at Delta Upsilon, assisted. Robinson by packaging cocaine and. delivering bags of cocaine to. individuals for purchase. Additionally, Ryan Matson, who was described as. Robinson's best friend, was also an. integral part of Robinson's drug. distribution network. Matson would. assist Robinson in picking up drugs from.

Abatiello and in distributing cocaine. Interestingly, I don't believe I. mentioned Matson as one of the people. who's currently facing criminal charges. Right. Lars Zepfat was identified as. another business partner of Abatiello. Zepfat was a brother at the fraternity. Sigmakai. Zefat and Abatiello were close. friends and work closely together in. distributing drugs. Zepad explained that. he was a cocaine user and when he first. came to Penn State, he had a source for. cocaine in Philadelphia. He would get. cocaine from his source in Philadelphia.

for himself and some of his fraternity. brothers, including Abatiello. Initially, Zepfat and Batiello were. buying between three and a half to seven. ounces of cocaine from his Philadelphia. source. After a short time, his source. would no longer talk to him. So, he and. Abatiello sought out a new source. Abatiello then found a source in his. hometown in New York that would supply. them with larger amounts of cocaine. Zevat testified again maybe another. cooperating witness that once a source. was obtained in New York around spring. 2023 Abatiello made a large purchase for.

100 grams of cocaine. Once he made this. large purchase, ZFAT described a shift. in Abatiello and it was clear to him. that Abatiello was now selling drugs for. profit rather than sourcing it for. himself and a few friends. Abatiello. branched out from selling cocaine within. the fraternity house and extended. outside the house to other fraternities. and students. On another occasion in. spring 2023, Abatiello asked Zep Fat and. Robert Zenola, another Sigmakai brother, to make a trip with him to New York to.

reup his supply of cocaine. At the time, Zenola was already purchasing cocaine. from Abatiello. Batiello offered Zanola. between $500 to $1,000 to make the trip. to get cocaine. Zepfat stated that. Batiello paid half purchase price ahead. of the trip and Zanola paid for the rest. in cash. Zepat and Zanola took three. trips to purchase large quantities of. drugs for Batiello. They would drive to. location based on an address given to. them from Abatiello. A man would deliver. a bag with cocaine in it to either Zat.

or Zenola and they would return with the. bag to State College and give it to. Abatiello. Zepat and Zenola receive. payment for making the trip from. Abatiello in either cash or a cheaper. price for cocaine. Zfat explained that. after Batiello would get a large supply. of cocaine, he would bring the drugs to. Sigmakai and have other brothers and. pledges assist him in preparing and. packaging the cocaine for resale. When. Zeat and Zanola would return with a. supply of cocaine for Abatiello, he. would utilize fraternity brothers or his. roommates. When he later moved to an.

off-campus apartment to assist him in. cutting up the cocaine and packaging it. in smaller amounts to distribute. So. what you're seeing in these allegations. is the level of sophistication pattern. travel money payments organization which. would help support the charges like we. mentioned before felony corrupt. organizations conspiracy which is. essentially a criminal agreement dealing. in the proceeds of unlawful activity. Quote ZFAT stated that during 2023 to. 2024 Abatiello was the largest.

distributor of cocaine at Penn State. University. Wow. He stated that Batiello. would boast about how much money he was. making from selling cocaine. Who did he. allegedly make these statements to? Could they be witnesses? Zad explained. Batiello loaned him $1,500. so that he and other fraternity brothers. could attend a spring break trip. Zat. stated that Batiello then made him. deliver cocaine for him when he couldn't. pay back the loan. I also wonder if any. of this is documented in text messages. Zebat detailed other individuals. including Andrew Aker who owed Abatiello.

thousands of dollars after taking a loan. from him. Aker was another individual. who was selling cocaine for Abatiello. And I do wonder the more people that are. connected, affected, allegedly involved. or communing with Abatiello, the more. potential witnesses in this case. Quote, Aker began purchasing cocaine from. Batiello in late fall 2023, spring 2024. after becoming a fraternity brother at. Sigmakai. Aker described Batiello as one. of the bigger drug dealers at Penn. State. Aker began selling cocaine for.

Abatiello to make extra cash. Aker. explained that he would often use Cash. App to pay a Batiello for the cocaine. that he was distributing and he believed. the amount of those transactions to. total around $30,000. In total though, Aker believes that. between cash and digital transactions, he paid Abatiello over $50,000. for drugs. Cash app, digital evidence, digital records. Again, this could be.

tough for a defense attorney. Innocent. unless proven guilty, but just talking. about potential evidence here. Now, here's how this uh filing concludes. Quote, "Several witnesses testified. before the grand jury that they. purchased cocaine on numerous occasions. from Abatiello during their time at Penn. State between January 2023 and August. 2024. Many of the witnesses also either. assisted or observed Abatiello preparing. cocaine for sale by cutting it from a. larger form to smaller individual bags.

for distribution. The consensus among. the witnesses, and by the way, we don't. know how many testified, the but the. consensus among the witnesses that. testified before the grand jury is that. Abatiello was the main dealer of cocaine. at Penn State during this time frame, and he was making considerable amounts. of money in the business. Abatiello has. continued to distribute cocaine among. his friends as recently as February. 2026. Additionally, when he learned that. individuals were being interviewed by. law enforcement about drug dealing at.

Penn State, he begged them not to talk. about his involvement. I don't know how. they plan to prove that, but if there's. some sort of communications or witness. testimony, look, that's a deeply deeply unsettling. set of allegations. By the way, I can. report right now just came out that. according to CBS4 News, investigators. say that Mr. Abatiello has turned. himself into authorities, that he was. arraigned on multiple counts, as we.

talked, drug possession, conspiracy. charges. They also report that according. to online court records, Abatiello is. now being held without bail. I don't see. as of this recording a statement from. his lawyer or lawyers, but we'll see. I. do want to go back though for a second. to AG Sunday from that press conference. where he explained why this is such a. big deal. What to say to parents that. are concerned about this. >> With regard to parents that might be. watching this and thinking about um.

what's happening at the school, I just. want to say this. Uh there is no city, county, community that exists um that. doesn't have to deal with issues such as. drug use, drug dealing, um addiction, and things of that nature. Um this is. something that occurs all throughout our. country and all throughout the world. And that being said, we take it very. very seriously, which is why we. conducted this investigation, which is.

why we filed the charges we filed. And I. will say that um not only have we filed. these charges, but I promise you that we. will be watching uh for students who. think about going to college, being away. from home for the first time, and having. an opportunity uh to kind of do what. they want. They need to understand that. when you there are always going to be. ramifications for the your actions. And. just because you're at college and.

you're making money and you think that. this is something you can get away with, it's not. It's extremely serious. Law. enforcement takes it extremely seriously. and we will continue to investigate and. prosecute individuals that decide to. deal drugs on college campuses. >> All right, so what a development. Had to. bring it to you. Big shocking news. Series of allegations. Again, they're. all innocent unless proven guilty. But. uh my gosh, a lot to think about. It's.

all we have for you right now here on. Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much. for joining us. As always, please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your. podcasts. You can also check us out on. NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to. [music] follow me, X Instagram, my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber live, Monday through Friday, 11 pm Eastern. See you next [music] time, everybody.