Five students at a Massachusetts Christian college made their first court appearances on Thursday, accused of luring an Army soldier onto their campus using a dating app and attacking him in a “To Catch a Predator” TikTok trend.
The Assumption University students, including Easton Randall, 19; Kevin Carroll, 18; Isabella Trudeau, 18; Joaquin Smith, 18; and 18-year-old Kelsy Brainard, whose Tinder account was used to lure the 22-year-old Army soldier, were arraigned on conspiracy and kidnapping charges in Worcester District Court on Thursday.
The soldier, who had deployed to the Middle East soon after the harrowing incident, told police that he was lured to campus by Brainard on Tinder after agreeing to meet with her. He claimed that he “just wanted to be around people that were happy” after a burial service.
According to charging documents, the victim was sitting beside Brainard in a student lounge when a “mass” of 25 to 30 people emerged, calling him a “pedophile” who “liked having sex with 17-year-old girls.” Surveillance footage showed that the victim had “ample personal space between him and Brainard” and that Brainard was “laughing and smiling” as the group descended upon him.
The group allegedly surrounded the victim, preventing him from leaving, and chased him as he rushed out of the parking lot. Carroll is facing an additional charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for allegedly slamming the victim’s head in his car door.
A few minutes later, the group was seen on surveillance footage re-entering the building while laughing and “high-fiving” each other. Campus police were unable to find the alleged predator on campus but began reviewing security footage and interviewing students after they were contacted by Worcester Police about a man reporting an assault.
Further investigation revealed that a small subset of the larger group allegedly conspired with each other to lure the victim to the property and solicit assistance “to catch a predator” via group texts. The goal of the Tinder invite was to simulate the TikTok fad of luring a sexual predator to a location and subsequently physically assaulting him or calling police.
The accused students were all sitting together when Brainard was sending Tinder messages back and forth with the victim when the idea of Catch a Predator came to mind. They all made suggestions and agreed on what was texted to the victim and the others joined the conspiracy knowing of the unlawful plan.
When the victim came to campus, one of the men simply texted the group chat that they “[had] to come down here” because they were “catching a predator,” which provoked a “rabid” response from the students.
