Glamorous Catholic college students lured soldier via dating app then wrongly accused him of being a pedophile
Five Catholic college students have been charged with luring a 22-year-old soldier before they falsely accused him of being a pedophile as part of 'Catch a Predator' TikTok trend.
Assumption University students Kelsy Brainard, 18, Easton Randall, 19, Kevin Carroll, 18, Isabella Trudeau, 18, and Joaquin Smith, 18, appeared in Massachusetts court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and kidnapping charges.
A sixth defendant was separately arraigned in juvenile court because they are underage.
Brainard is also charged with witness intimidation. Carroll was charged with assault and battery after he reportedly admitted to slamming the victim's head in the car door.
Prosecutors say Brainard met the man on Tinder, told him she was 18, and invited him to the Catholic school in Worcester on October 1 so they could 'try and hook up.'
The alleged victim, a 22-year-old active-duty military service member, said he was in town for his grandmother's funeral and went on Tinder because he 'just wanted to be around people that were happy.'
Brainard greeted him when he arrived at the school, before she led him into a basement lounge, per court documents.
Kelsy Brainard, 18, is one of five college students charged with luring a 22-year-old soldier before they falsely accused him of being a pedophile as part of 'Catch a Predator' TikTok trend
Isabella Trudeau, 18, is charged with kidnapping and conspiracy over the October incident
Kevin Carroll was also charged with assault and battery after he reportedly admitted to slamming the victim's head in the car door
Within minutes, '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 the report.
The man told police that he broke free and was chased by at least 25 people to his car, where he was punched in the head and his car door was slammed on him before he managed to flee.
Campus surveillance video shows a large group of students, including Brainard, 'all with their cellphones out in what seems to be a recording of the whole episode,' the police statement said.
They are seen 'laughing and high fiving with each other' in what appeared to be 'a deliberately staged event,' and there was no evidence to indicate the man was seeking sexual relations with underage girls, the police report said.
Randall allegedly told officers they were inspired by the 'catch a predator' trend, which he said 'is big on TikTok' at the moment.
He said their group shared ideas of what to tell the man through the Tinder app to lure him to campus, and then spread word through a dormitory chat group that a 'predator' was in the building, the report said.
A review of the messages showed no indication that the man was looking for underage girls, police said.
One of the accused, Easton Randall, allegedly told officers they were inspired by the 'catch a predator' trend, which he said 'is big on TikTok' at the moment
Joaquin Smith appears at district court as he and four other Massachusetts college students made their first appearance on Thursday
Prosecutors say Brainard met the man on Tinder , told him she was 18, and invited him to the Catholic school in Worcester on October 1 so they could 'try and hook up'
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 and that she texted a male friend who chased him away.
All of this was false, campus police concluded after reviewing surveillance recordings and finding that 'first person perspective videos' were being circulated among students.
Before leaving court, where cameras were turned on them, the teens were ordered to have no contact with the targeted man.
A lawyer for Brainard, Christopher Todd, said, 'We’re just looking forward to having the process play out.
The lawyer for Trudeau, Robert Iacovelli, said afterward that she's innocent. He filed a motion seeking dismissal of the charges against her, saying authorities lack probable cause to believe she committed a crime.
