Police caught former Penn State student Thomas Robinson running a cocaine trafficking ring from his fraternity house thanks to his Venmo activity.
Authorities learned of the situation when an informant told police that “a male, using the nickname ‘T-Rob’ [was] selling large amounts of cocaine from the Delta Upsilon Fraternity House,” according to court documents viewed by NBC News.
The informant then revealed that alleged drug kingpin “T-Rob” had been accepting payments through a Venmo account under the username of “Tom-Robinson.”
Authorities performed a database search for “Tom Robinson,” which led them to Robinson, 23, who had his address listed as the Delta Upsilon fraternity house in State College, Pennsylvania.
The frat house was raided in December 2024, and Robinson allegedly resisted arrest and “thought the officers were his fraternity brothers playing a prank on him,” according to the complaint. Robinson was then tasered and taken into custody.
As authorities searched his dorm room, they allegedly found over eight grams of cocaine, almost eight ounces of weed and more than 200 amphetamine and dextroamphetamine pills.
A Kimber .45-caliber handgun was also allegedly located in a safe that had been placed on top of a mini fridge, according to the complaint.
Robinson is facing several charges for the scheme, including drug manufacturing and delivery, criminal use of a communication facility, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
After he was arrested, Robinson reportedly told authorities that he had gotten the drugs from fellow Penn State student and Sigma Chi fraternity member Agostino Abbatiello.
Abbatiello, 24, and Robinson met through one of Robinson’s fraternity brothers, according to a filing viewed by NBC News.
That unidentified brother who introduced them was already dealing drugs at the time, and he allegedly asked Robinson to become “business partners in distributing cocaine” in July 2023.
The frat brother then allegedly told Robinson he wanted out of the arrangement in December 2023, and Robinson reportedly bought him out of the last cocaine supply they had gotten together.
Robinson allegedly received several large cocaine purchases from Abbatiello between January and September 2024, which included orders that consisted of $18,000 and $22,000 worth of cocaine each.
It’s not currently clear whether Robinson has entered a plea in the case, and an attorney for him was not immediately able to be contacted.
Us previously reported that a total of 14 people have been arrested in connection with the cocaine ring, including Thomas’ father, Paul Robinson. Paul, a prominent lawyer in Pittsburgh, did not immediately respond to Us’ request for comment when contacted about the case.
Following the arrests, Penn State placed Delta Upsilon on interim suspension. Meanwhile, Sigma Chi was unaffected because it operates outside of the university’s oversight.
“We are horrified by these serious allegations against current and former students,” Penn State vice president for student affairs Andrea Dowhower said in a statement. “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.”
