Judge Sets $250,000 Bail for Accused Penn State Cocaine Ring Leader

Q: Why were fraternity pledges allegedly forced to package and transport cocaine as part of their secretive indoctrination process?

Prosecutors say pledges were allegedly made to package and transport cocaine because senior fraternity members used that work as hazing and “indoctrination” into the fraternities, while also exploiting them as labor for the drug operation. According to Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday and court filings, the alleged ring operated out of the off-campus Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon houses, where cocaine was cut, bagged and moved for sale to Penn State students. Investigators say fraternity brothers and pledges were assigned those tasks as part of initiation, with some pledges allegedly expected to prepare half-gram bags and help transport the drugs. The practice appears to have served two purposes. It reinforced secrecy, obedience and control within the fraternity hierarchy — a hallmark of hazing — and it provided the trafficking network with low-level workers to handle packaging and deliveries. Prosecutors have portrayed the broader scheme as a structured, profit-driven enterprise in which different members performed specific roles. Authorities have not suggested the pledges were brought in for any legitimate fraternity purpose. Rather, the evidence cited by investigators indicates the alleged leaders folded criminal work into the initiation process itself. Penn State has described the allegations as criminal activity and hazing, and the investigation remains ongoing.

3 articles · Updated · NBC News · Sep 2

$250,000 bail was set Wednesday for Agostino Abbatiello, 24, after he was initially denied release in the Penn State-linked cocaine trafficking case; court records showed he had not posted bond by afternoon.
Prosecutors say Abbatiello was the ring’s main supplier, selling fraternity members amounts from small quantities up to 1 kilogram and using brothers and pledges to package drugs and act as paid couriers.
Three co-defendants — Thomas Michael Robinson, Mohammed Huraibi and Lars Zeepvat — waived preliminary hearings and testified against him at the bail hearing, along with a State College police detective, according to WJAC.
Fourteen people in all were arrested in the two-year investigation centered on Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon; Abbatiello’s lawyer called the original bail denial “absurd,” denied he posed a violent threat and accused prosecutors of judge-shopping.