Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine has assumed jurisdiction of the case involving the alleged drug trafficking that took place at two Penn State fraternities, according to a court order dated September 1.

Grine said he is exercising concurrent jurisdiction for “judicial economy” and “administrative purposes.”

The order comes after Agostino Abbatiello’s attorney, Philip Masorti, alleged that a state prosecutor improperly handpicked District Judge Kelley Gillette-Walker to work the case and described Gillette-Walker as the prosecutor’s “crony.”

Grine wrote that the challenge from Masorti is now moot.

Masorti also challenged the denial of bail to Abbatiello, arguing that it was unconstitutional and comparing the 13 other defendants’ situations to Abbatiello’s.

Abbatiello was denied bail on August 18 by Gillette-Walker, who cited “flight risk; serious allegations of drug use/sales=danger to public” as reasons for denying bail, per the court docket.

“[Abbatiello] has no criminal record, no history of flight, and, after a two-year investigation, the motion states that law enforcement never asserted that he used violence, threatened violence, or was seen with a weapon,” Masorti said in a statement.

Grine’s one-page order said Abbatiello’s emergency motion to set bail and continue the preliminary hearing will be addressed at the hearing on September 2.

Abbatiello, a former Penn State student and Sigma Chi fraternity member, is alleged to have led the large-scale cocaine trafficking ring and received more than $123,500 in drug payments, according to the grand jury presentment.

He was one of 13 former and current Penn State students charged in connection to a drug trafficking ring that allegedly operated out of the off-campus houses of Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi.

Authorities allege Abbatiello was at the center of the operation. A witness who testified against Abbatiello called him “the largest dealer of cocaine for Penn State University students.”

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