BELLEFONTE, Pa.– A former Penn State fraternity member testified Wednesday that he bought and sold cocaine in quantities that grew from 100 grams to 1-kilogram loads as prosecutors detailed allegations of a drug operation running through fraternities near campus.The testimony came during preliminary hearings at the Centre County Courthouse in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, for Agostino Abbatiello, Mohammed Huraibi, Paul Robinson, Thomas Robinson and Robert Zanolla.
The five defendants are among 14 people charged in the alleged Penn State drug operation.Charging documents filed by the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office describe a hierarchy of alleged suppliers, distributors and fraternity members accused of weighing, packaging and delivering cocaine.Prosecutors allege the drugs were brought to State College from Philadelphia, New York and Long Island before being sold to Penn State students.SUSPECT ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY RUNNING METH LAB AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY’S LARGEST ACADEMIC BUILDINGThomas Robinson, a former Delta Upsilon fraternity member, testified that he and Huraibi began buying cocaine from Abbatiello in 2023.
Robinson said their first purchase involved about 100 grams of cocaine for roughly $4,000.Thomas Robinson, 22, is facing felony charges for his alleged involvement in the downstream logistics of the operation.(Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General Dave Sunday)Robinson testified that he stored the cocaine in his fraternity room, where he and Huraibi broke it down into half-gram bags and sold each one for about $80.JEANINE PIRRO CALLS OUT 'DIRTBAGS' AFTER 14 CHARGED IN ALLEGED COCAINE RING OPERATING FEET FROM A SCHOOLYARDHe described additional purchases involving 250 grams, 500 grams and, eventually, about 1 kilogram of cocaine.
Robinson testified that he began buying directly from Abbatiello through Snapchat after Huraibi stopped selling.Robinson said the Snapchat messages disappeared after 24 hours.During one March 2024 transactio...