Six students were charged with kidnapping and conspiracy after allegedly luring an active-duty service member to their campus in a violent, staged “To Catch a Predator”-inspired TikTok plot.
The students from Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, used a dating app to trick the soldier in October 2024.
Kelsy Brainard, 18, Easton Randall, 19, Kevin Carroll, 18, Isabella Trudeau, 18, and Joaquin Smith, 18, appeared at their arraignment for conspiracy and kidnapping charges on Thursday (January 16).
Six teenage students were charged after carrying out a TikTok-inspired plot
Image credits: cottonbro studio/Pexels (Not the actual photo)
The group of youths is reportedly accused of using Kelsy’s Tinder account to lure their 22-year-old victim to the private Roman Catholic school.
The sixth student involved in the alleged crime, a minor, was arraigned in juvenile court, The New York Post reported on Friday (January 17).
The victim reportedly told police that he was in the area for his grandmother’s funeral and was on the dating app because he “just wanted to be around people that were happy.”
Image credits: IMDb
As per The Post, Kelsy was consequently accused of walking the unidentified service member down to a basement lounge, where a group of students came out and allegedly grabbed their victim and stopped him from leaving.
“A group of people came out of nowhere and started calling him a pedophile,” the Associated Press reported, citing a campus police report.
A Tinder account was used to lure the victim
Image credits: NEWS CENTER Maine
The students reportedly accused the soldier of wanting to have sex with 17-year-old girls.
In Massachusetts, the legal age of consent is 16 years old, meaning individuals aged 16 or older can legally engage in consensual sexual activity, Nate Amendola Defense explains.
Therefore, a 22-year-old and a 17-year-old can legally have sexual relations under Massachusetts law.
Image credits: NEWS CENTER Maine
However, Massachusetts does not have a "Romeo and Juliet" law, which in some states provides legal protections for consensual sexual activity between minors that are close in age, according to Riccio Law.
This means that while a 17-year-old can legally consent to sex with an older individual, those under 16 cannot legally consent to sexual activity, regardless of the age of their partner, as per The Fernandez Firm.
Image credits: NEWS CENTER Maine
Upon being ambushed, the serviceman reportedly managed to break free from the basement but was allegedly chased back to his car by approximately 25 people, most of whom recorded the chase with their phones, The Post reported.
The soldier ended up being punched by one of the students and eventually fled before calling the police to report the alleged assault.
The victim reportedly said the person who punched him in the head was a juvenile who was already known to police.
The victim was yelled at by the group of students and labeled a "pedophile"
Image credits: Craig F. Walker/Getty Images
Nevertheless, Kelsy also filed a police report claiming there was a sexual predator on campus, and she was frightened, in addition to alleging that one of her male friends chased the soldier, who was labeled an “uninvited guest,” according to The Post.
Campus video has since confirmed that Kelsy led the solider into the building who was seen running from a group of students shortly after, including her, all with their cell phones, WWLP reported on Friday.
“The interaction depicted in the footage occurs from start to finish in 2.35 minutes and does not appear to be a random occurrence but a deliberately staged event,” Worcester police said in a report.
All of the students were below the age of 20
Image credits: Craig F. Walker/Getty Images
In the case’s court documents, Worcester police further revealed that after a review of the footage, it was determined that the report filed by Kelsy was allegedly false and led police to believe a sexual predator was on campus.
Furthermore, a review of Kelsy’s Tinder profile, which indicates she was 18 years old, showed messages between her and the victim that police believe did not indicate he was looking for underage girls to meet.
Image credits: KKTV
Police also found that a small portion of the students’ group allegedly conspired to lure the victim and solicited assistance through texts about “catching a predator,” an incident meant to emulate a TikTok trend, WWLP reported.
The TikTok "catching a predator" trend involves individuals or groups creating staged scenarios to confront alleged sexual predators, often recording and posting the encounters online.
Inspired by shows like To Catch a Predator, participants typically use fake online profiles to lure targets into meeting and then ambush them with accusations of predatory behavior.
"Hello prison. Goodbye future," read one of the comments
