Fairfield Police arrested a Fairfield University sophomore on two charges related to allegedly planning a SantaCon event on private property. 

According to a press release from the police department, Emmet Blaney, 19, was arrested on Wednesday after an investigation found he was promoting a “SantaCon gathering, at specific private residential beach addresses that he has no affiliation with, and without the homeowner’s permission.”

This year, Fairfield University announced it will take over the event, operating it under a private, ticketed model with a capacity of 6,000 students and registered guests.

On Instagram, an account under the username @fairfieldsantacon was advertising a SantaCon event. The posts, which have since been deleted, promoted the beach party as being hosted at multiple locations nearby to The Point, including 445 Fairfield Beach Rd and 2 Lighthouse Point, both of which are close to public beach access points.

The page also featured screenshots from Google Maps displaying the route to Fairfield Beach from several nearby colleges, including Sacred Heart University and the University of Connecticut. 

The Mirror reached out to the account on Nov. 7 to inquire about the event’s organization, which also mentioned an appearance by a DJ Maddox. The inquiry has yet to be answered. 

On Tuesday, the account shared a message on Instagram stories saying that “Fairfield santacon has been cancelled and moved to jennings beach for students only. we’re sorry for everyone who was planning on coming from other schools, you will not be able to make it to the beach.” The message was posted five days after the university had publicly announced SantaCon as a private event.

The arrest follows a string of messages by the university and the town of Fairfield warning students and visitors against visiting the town for the Christmas-themed party.

“If you are planning to travel to Fairfield for this event, don’t,” said First Selectman Christine Vitale on Wednesday. “We are putting extensive plans in place so that our neighborhoods or emergency services are not overwhelmed. I want our residents to know that our police will be there and will be looking for all violations of the law, including trespassing.”

Blaney is not the first university student arrested by the Fairfield Police Department on disorderly conduct charges this year. Earlier in September, two senior students were also arrested on the same charges for allegedly hosting an unruly beach party outside of their beach rental. One case was disposed of and a second student is still awaiting a plea hearing on Friday morning.

Within minutes of FPD’s statement, several students have published their reactions to Blaney’s arrest on the anonymous Fizz platform.

“The real reason why the SantaCon Insta[gram] said it was canceled is [because] the kid running it got arrested,” one user speculated, attaching a screenshot from FPD’s Facebook page.

In another post, a user commented, “Where is freedom of speech. FREE EMMET.”

A student encouraged their peers to “flood the comment sections” of FPD social media accounts to protest the arrest. 

As of 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, the FPD Facebook post featuring Blaney’s mugshot had already amassed 30 comments. The comments indicated a mixed reaction from its followers, with one comment denouncing the charges as “ridiculously exaggerated” and several others praising FPD for their “good work.”

Kathleen Morris contributed to this reporting.