BELLEFONTE, Penn. — The frat boy accused of being the ringleader of a Penn State cocaine operation began dealing medicine to turn out to be “common” — and went from a nerdy Lengthy Island child to a celebration king often known as the “The Godfather” on campus, in keeping with testimony Wednesday.
Agostino Abbatiello, 24, allegedly gave away piles of free coke at afterparties and blew money on a brand new wardrobe and “a $5,000 bong” after raking in massive bucks dealing, his pal and alleged confederate Lars Zeepvat advised court docket.
“I noticed a distinction in Auggie. He began promoting for cash. And he began promoting for reputation,” Zeepvat mentioned after Abbatiello made his first main buy of the drug in Spring 2023.
Abbateillo was launched Wednesday on $250,000 secured bond after he was locked up with out bail for per week for failing to show himself in when prosecutors needed.
The accounting main — who’s seen in previous pictures sporting unstylish glasses, ill-fitting fits and a bouffant hairdo — first rushed with Sigma Chai through the fall of his sophomore 12 months in 2021, Zeepvat mentioned throughout a preliminary listening to at Centre County Courthouse.
The pair and two different mates allegedly quickly started driving to Philly to attain cocaine and had begun promoting it by their junior 12 months, Zeepvat testified.
Abbatiello began shopping for larger portions from a seller named “RJ,” who he knew from highschool on Lengthy Island, scoring an enormous haul that earned him reward from the occasion crowd, Zeepvat mentioned.
“First time he bought from RJ it was essentially the most we’ve ever seen and it was 100 grams,” Zeepvat mentioned. “Folks had been enamored with how a lot it was.”
“Augustino introduced again the coke the primary time he went to New York and put it on the social room [at the] frat home,” he mentioned.
Zeepvat mentioned they each did medicine themselves whereas promoting luggage for $60 to $120 {dollars}.
By senior 12 months, the coke-snorting dean’s checklist pupil then started to deal bigger quantities, and spending the dough on new clothes, a dear bong and playing as much as $10,000 at a time, Zeepvat mentioned.
Abbatiello then grew to become a widely known seller on campus often known as “The Godfather,” Zeepvat mentioned.
When Abbatiello moved into an condo on the finish of junior 12 months, his pad grew to become a drug den, he mentioned.
“Auggie’s condo was often known as the afters occasion. We’d go there and he would put a bag on the desk and folks would do free cocaine,” Zeepvat mentioned.
He mentioned Abbatiello would host between three and 12 individuals, typically charging for a line, relying on his relationship to the particular person.
Zeepvat admitted that he had cocaine downside and that, “Auggie was a means that I might use cocaine,” he mentioned.
Abbatiello and different members of the ring now face a slew of felony expenses after authorities found that members of the Penn State fraternities, Sigma Chi and Delta Upsilon, reportedly coordinated with cocaine suppliers in New York and Philadelphia.
13 of the frat brothers had been busted for operating the cocaine trafficking ring that compelled younger pledges to chop and bag the medicine, which had been then peddled to college students, in keeping with prosecutors.
