Paul Robinson, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania attorney charged hiding son’s cocaine and cash charged in Penn State cocaine ring as Meyer Darragh principal is indicted in drug ring which supplied college students with controlled substance narcotic. Son, Thomas Robinson and Agostino Abbatiello identified as operation ringleaders.
A prominent Pittsburgh lawyer is accused of trying to cover up an alleged cocaine trafficking ring run by his college-student son and other members of his fraternity at Penn State University.
Paul Robinson, 59-year-old managing attorney for the Meyer Darragh Buckler Bebeneck & Eck law firm, was arrested Monday along with his son, Thomas Robinson. The son according to Pennsylvania prosecutors was described as a secondary leader of the alleged drug operation.
The father is alleged to have acted in concert with his son, in trying to hide evidence of an alleged multi-state cocaine-trafficking ring, including placing the narcotic drug and cash in a safe, KDKA reported.
Prominent Pittsburgh lawyer son alleged to be ringleader of cocaine operation
Twelve other current or former Penn State students are also charged in the case, which involves alleged cocaine sales by members of the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternities to Penn State students in 2023 and 2024.
In all, 14 people were charged, with Thomas Robinson and Agostino Abbatiello, 24, described as the alleged ringleaders of the operation, the nypost reported.
Abbatiello is reported to have surrendered Tuesday morning and later arraigned.
Paul Robinson following his arrest was charged with felony tampering, hindering apprehension for taking steps to conceal evidence in the case, including a safe stuffed with cash and drugs and obstructing the investigation, state prosecutors said.
Coordinated and highly-profitable drug-trafficking crew
The cocaine allegedly sold by Thomas Robinson and the other defendants was usually ‘cut and packaged’ inside the fraternity houses ‘by fraternity brothers,’ prosecutors announced on Monday. Fraternity pledges were also sometimes tasked with processing the cocaine.
‘The only non-student charged 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,’ Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday told reporters.
Sunday called the alleged cocaine ring ‘a coordinated and highly-profitable drug-trafficking crew’.
Thomas Robinson according to Penn State was last a student at the ivy league school in the spring of 2025.
Distinguished lawyer implicated in son’s Penn State cocaine ring
The elder Robinson earned a bachelor’s degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and a law degree from New England School of Law in 1992, according to his company profile, which also lists Thomas as one of his children.
Robinson clerked for Meyer Darragh while a law student at the New England School of Law in Boston and has worked there since graduating in 1992.
He was treasurer for Delta Sigma Phi as an undergrad, and a member of Phi Alpha Delta while in law school, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and specializes in transportation, commercial, construction and insurance law.
The father was granted an unsecured $1 million bail ‘due to work obligations,’ according to online court records.
Penn State announced Monday that it is placing Delta Upsilon on interim suspension while an investigation is conducted, but said Sigma Chi operates outside of the university’s oversight.
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