Saranac Hale Spencer, and Esteban Parra

The News Journal

One hundred eighty people were charged with underage drinking at an unofficial fraternity party near the University of Delaware on Saturday.

Newark officers swarmed the small brick house at East Park Place and Haines Street, which had about 200 people milling around the yard, and set up two portable toilets and several folding tables to deal with the paperwork that comes with ticketing that many people.

A party of that size isn't unusual, according to neighbors who live on the block, some of whom are students.

"It was just a normal day-drink," said Tommy Flynn, 21, a student who lives next door to the house that had the party. Police broke it up at about 4 p.m.

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The hosts of the party haven't been named by police, but they are likely to face additional charges, according to a statement from Lt. Bill Hargrove.

They are members of an unsanctioned fraternity called APES, according to police.

APES was started by members of the former Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, according to Andrea Boyle Tippett, spokeswoman for UD. The school's chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi was suspended for hazing violations in April.

Last spring, Willem Golden, a student from Skidmore College was staying at another unofficial fraternity house near campus when he fell from the roof to his death.

One person was found unresponsive inside the house on Saturday and was taken to Christiana Hospital via ambulance for an alcohol overdose. The person was treated and released, according to police.

The students who live in the house are respectful of their neighbors, said Mary Sidebotham, who lives on the block and has two children who attend UD. The parties they host have been only on the weekends, she said.

That's pretty much how it is every year, Sidebotham said, especially at the beginning of the semester, before students have too much homework.

Although these arrests aren't part of a concerted effort to crack down on student parties, according to James Spadola of the Newark Police, they do come on the heels of a new system introduced over the summer designed to tamp down on underage drinking at area bars.

All people arrested who are UD students were referred to the Office of Student Conduct.

Newark Police on Saturday had the help of police from the University of Delaware, Middletown, state troopers and the Delaware Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement. Officers executed the search warrant and made 180 underage consumption of alcohol arrests, which included two juvenile arrests.

Contact Saranac Hale Spencer at (302) 324-2909, sspencer@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @SSpencerTNJ. Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.

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