College students charged in ‘Catch a Predator’ style ambush on soldier

Six Massachusetts college students are accused of assaulting an active-duty soldier who they falsely described as a sexual predator after luring the man to campus via a dating app as part of a TikTok trend inspired by the TV show “To Catch a Predator.”

The 22-year-old — an active-duty military service member — told police that he was in town for his grandmother’s funeral in October and began communicating with an Assumption University student whose Tinder profile said she was 18, according to The Associated Press.

Assumption University student Kelsy Brainard, 18, now faces an intimidation charge for allegedly misleading police.

Four other students — Kevin Carroll, Isabella Trudeau, Joaquin Smith, all 18, and Easton Randall, 19, who police say helped plan the alleged ambush — have been charged with kidnapping and conspiracy.

The group is scheduled for arraignment on Jan. 16 in Worcester, Massachusetts.

A sixth student charged is a juvenile, according to AP.

Assumption University President Greg Weiner said the behavior described in the court filing “is abhorrent and antithetical to Assumption University’s mission and values.”

“This situation is particularly sobering because the victim is an active-duty military service member,” Weiner said in the statement. “His service reminds us of the sacrifices made by those who defend our freedoms, including the opportunity to pursue a college education.”

The soldier told police Brainard invited him over, but when he got there, “a group of people came out of nowhere and started calling him a pedophile,” accusing him of wanting sex with 17-year-old girls, according to a complaint filed by campus police.

The man said people in the group grabbed him, but he broke free and ran while being chased by at least 25 people.

He made it to his car, where he said he was punched in the head and his car door was slammed on him, the police statement said.

He fled and called the city police.

Police allege campus surveillance video shows Brainard escorting the soldier into a basement lounge, and then him running upstairs, followed by a large group of students, including the woman, “all with their cellphones out in what seems to be a recording of the whole episode,” the police statement said.

A few minutes later, Brainard and others are seen returning “laughing and high fiving with each other.”

After the assault, Brainard reported the man to police as a sexual predator and said she was frightened by him. She said he had come to campus uninvited. She also told police he was “creepy” and that she had texted a male friend who chased the man away.

Campus police allege that some of the students conspired to “simulate the TikTok fad of luring a sexual predator to a location and subsequently physically assaulting him or calling the police.” One of those charged mentioned “To Catch a Predator” host Chris Hansen. The NBC show ran from 2004 to 2007 and involved adults impersonating underage people to catch men who contacted them over the internet for sex.

The student said that “catch a predator is a big thing on TikTok currently but that this got out of hand and went bad,” according to the police statement.

In court documents, campus police said they determined Brainard’s version of events was false after reviewing the surveillance recordings and finding that “first person perspective videos” were being circulated among students.

“A review of Tinder messages shared by Ms. Brainard and the victim is negative for any indication that the subject was looking for underage girls to meet,” Assumption University police told WCVB Channel 5. “The information Brainard was providing was not factual but falsification and lies.”

The soldier’s father told WCVB that his son was deployed overseas within days of the incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.