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Penn State fraternity drug ring: Philadelphia ties revealed
Authorities charged 14 people in alleged cocaine trafficking at Penn State’s main campus. Two are from the Philadelphia area.
PHILADELPHIA - New information continues to emerge following Monday's announcement about alleged fraternity drug trafficking at Penn State University's main campus. Court documents now show fourteen people face charges, including two individuals from the greater Philadelphia area, in a case that has drawn national attention.
What we know:
Investigators say Daniel Price, of Philadelphia, and Kyle Ridpath, of Media, are each charged with drug-related misdemeanors. Attorney General Dave Sunday called it Monday "a coordinated and organized cocaine trafficking operation with regular trips to those source cities and large amounts of cocaine."
More details are also emerging about one of the alleged ringleaders, Thomas Robinson.
According to a 2024 affidavit, confidential informants helped authorities target Robinson, known as "T-Rob. An informant stated Robinson sold cocaine on Snapchat and took payment through Venmo.
Officials obtained a search warrant at the Delta Upsilon fraternity house in December 2024.
The documents state Robinson was Tased and handcuffed during his arrest and told officers he thought they were affiliated with fraternity brothers playing a prank.
Sunday explained, "Investigations of this nature take time. They’re very detailed, and what we wanted to do is make sure that we took the time to arrest all of these individuals so that we could do our best to route out this criminal organization to stop it from being able to continue to deal cocaine in the future."
"It’s a lot of questions here. Not for the ring leaders because clearly they knew what they were doing, but the involvement of the people around it and the aggressiveness of the prosecutors to hold them accountable as well," said Donte Mills, a criminal defense attorney and law professor at Temple University. "When you get to the point where you’re moving reportedly kilos of cocaine on a college campus it doesn’t happen overnight. You build that up overtime, you recruit people, you have people coming into the fraternity and otherwise."
Greek organizations and campus oversight
Penn State officials state that Delta Upsilon is on interim suspension. Sigma Chi is not one of the university’s recognized organizations, meaning it is not subject to university oversight.
What we don't know:
It’s unclear how long the alleged operation was active or whether more individuals may be charged as the investigation continues.
The Source: Information from court documents and law professionals.