Paul Robinson

Introduction

Paul Robinson is a veteran Pittsburgh civil-defense attorney who was ordered on September 24, 2026, to stand trial on felony and misdemeanor charges after a witness testified that he helped dig up a safe allegedly belonging to his son — one of the accused ringleaders of a cocaine-trafficking operation run out of Penn State fraternity houses — from a wooded hiding spot and drove away with it. Robinson, who is accused of tampering with evidence and hindering apprehension, denies the allegations and says he was simply clearing out his son’s fraternity room after the arrest.

Background Information

Robinson, of Churchill, is a prominent Pittsburgh lawyer at Meyer, Darragh, Buckler, Bebenek & Eck, where his practice covers transportation, commercial law, construction law and insurance litigation. Admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1992, he is a life fellow of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and a delegate to its House of Delegates. His 23-year-old son, Thomas “T-Robb” Robinson, was one of a dozen Delta Upsilon members charged in December 2024 in what authorities describe as a cocaine-distribution ring operating out of the Delta Upsilon and Sigma Chi fraternity houses at Penn State between 2023 and 2024, in which cutting and packaging cocaine was allegedly folded into the hazing of pledges.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not tried. Paul Robinson faces felony tampering with evidence and hindering-apprehension charges, plus misdemeanors, and a judge has only ruled that the evidence is sufficient for trial. The account below comes from preliminary-hearing testimony and investigators’ claims; Robinson denies the allegations, and no conviction exists.

The case against him rests on the testimony of his son’s fraternity brother, Ryan Matson, a 2025 Penn State graduate. Matson testified that after Thomas Robinson’s December 2024 arrest, he and another brother took one of Robinson’s safes about 30 minutes north and buried it under “leaves and dirt and sticks” in the woods, and that Thomas later called him in relief because the safe contained money. According to Matson, the elder Robinson came to the fraternity house two days after his son posted bail, then drove with Matson to the wooded site off East Mountain Road, where the two dug up the safe, loaded it into the car trunk — hidden beneath a blanket — and the father drove off with it. Its current whereabouts are unknown.

Matson said Paul Robinson texted him afterward — “Ryan, you are a great friend and person. Thank you for being there for Tom” — and asked him “not to tell anyone” about the retrieval. Matson testified he buried the safe on December 13, 2024, the same day as Thomas Robinson’s arrest, and never had its key or combination. Senior Deputy Attorney General Megan McGoron told the court that Thomas Robinson had testified to a grand jury that he locked roughly 100 grams of cocaine and between $5,000 and $10,000 inside that safe.

At a preliminary hearing before a Centre County judge, all charges were held for court, sending Robinson and five former Penn State students to trial in county court. Robinson’s attorney, Michael DeRiso, has disputed the case: “There’s no evidence of what was in the safe. We’re all speculating here that there’s this massive amount of cocaine in this safe with all this money and, unless I missed something in that hearing, nothing was produced to suggest that.” DeRiso has said his client was handed the safe while cleaning out his son’s fraternity room after the arrest.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The image of a longtime defense attorney — a man whose professional life is built around the criminal courts — being ordered to stand trial in one has made the case a fixture of Pennsylvania legal news, with TribLIVE, PennLive and USA Today all covering the hearings and the New York Post amplifying the buried-safe narrative nationally. Robinson, a defense-research institute member and Allegheny County trial-lawyer organization figure, now faces the prospect of a felony record that would end his ability to practice law if convicted.

Current Status

Robinson is awaiting trial in Centre County Court on the tampering and hindering-apprehension charges after the September 2026 ruling that the case could proceed. He remains free pending trial and issued a statement denying the claims against him: “I have not lived a perfect life by any means, but the claims and reports about me are not true. I respect the law more than anyone.” DeRiso has said his client looks forward to telling what actually happened. No trial date has been reported.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prosecution has already pulled Robinson out of the obscurity of civil-defense practice and into headlines linking him to one of the largest college drug cases in Pennsylvania memory. His son remains charged among the alleged ringleaders of the Penn State ring alongside Agostino Abbatiello, Mohammed Huraibi and Lars Zeepvat, and the missing safe — allegedly holding drugs and cash — sits at the center of both cases. A conviction would cost Robinson his law license and, at his career stage, end it permanently.

Sources

• *New York Post, “Dad of accused Penn State drug kingpin dug up safe buried with cash: witness”, 28 September 2026 — source
• *USA Today, “Pittsburgh attorney moved safe with cocaine, Penn State student says”, 3 September 2026 — source
• *Onward State, “Two Delta Upsilon Brothers Allegedly Hid Thomas Robinson’s Safe After 2024 Arrest”, 2 September 2026 — source