Five students in Massachusetts are accused of luring a man to Assumption University’s campus in a plot that police said was inspired by the TV show “To Catch a Predator” and a TikTok fad.
The students were part of a larger group that chased the man from a campus building after he was invited there by a student on the dating app Tindr, expecting to meet an adult, according to a criminal complaint filed in Worcester District Court in December. 4.
Campus police at Assumption University, a small Catholic school in Worcester, said in the complaint that the group accused the man of being a sexual predator, prevented him from leaving a student lounge and labeled the incident as part of a “deliberately staged event. “
Two students attacked the man, police said.
There was no indication the man was trying to meet underage girls, and the woman who invited him to campus, Kelsy Brainard, 18, said on her Tindr profile that she was 18, police said. Police did not release the man’s age.
Videos of the incident, which happened on Oct. 1, were shared among students and seen by police, who said minutes after the man arrived on campus, he was watching a baseball game on a couch in a student lounge with Ms. Brainard and there was “plenty of personal space between them.”
Suddenly, a large group of students emerged from hidden locations, the complaint said. The students berated the man “as a sex offender,” grabbed him and prevented him from leaving the room, police said.
He ran away and as a group of about 25 people chased him, a man, who is not being named in court documents because he is a juvenile, punched the man in the back of the head. Once the man got to his car, another student slammed a car door on him. It is unclear if the man was injured or if he sought medical attention.
The group of students had their phones out and were apparently recording the incident, according to police, who also reviewed footage from campus surveillance cameras and interviewed students as part of their investigation.
“A few minutes later you see the group come back, laughing and fighting with each other,” police said.
One of the students, Easton Randall, 19, told police the students had been inspired by “To Catch a Predator” and the videos popular on social media, the complaint said. He also said the group was trying to replicate a TikTok fad in which people lure a sexual predator to a location and either attack them or call the police.
The hit NBC series, “To Catch a Predator,” ran from 2004 to 2008 and featured undercover sting operations where men were lured through online chat rooms to a home where they thought they were meeting a teenager for sex.
Show host Chris Hansen would confront the men before they were arrested and ambushed by a camera crew.
Some criticized the show because of NBC’s relationship with police and an advocacy group that helped orchestrate the stings. Questions have also been raised about the value and ethics of sensationalizing a secret sting targeting potential sexual predators.
A man killed himself as police and a camera crew entered his home. NBC settled with the man’s family in 2008 after they filed a $108 million lawsuit against the broadcaster.
At Assumption University, police said in the complaint that the plan was masterminded by a “core group” of six students, five of whom have been charged with kidnapping and conspiracy, including Mr. Randall, Isabella Trudeau, 18, and Joaquin Smith. 18.
Ms. Brainard was also charged with intimidation and Kevin Carroll, 18, was charged with assault and battery with a deadly weapon. Mr. Carroll told officers he slammed the victim’s head into the car door, according to the criminal complaint, which did not address the student, who is a minor.
The lawyer of Mr. Carroll did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday. Attorneys were not listed on the court file for the other four defendants, who could not immediately be reached for comment.
Assumption University President Greg Weiner said in a statement that the behavior described by police was “abhorrent and contrary to the mission and values ​​of Assumption University.”
He said the university’s Department of Public Safety immediately began an investigation.
“This situation is particularly frustrating because the victim is active duty military,” the statement said. “His service reminds us of the sacrifices made by those who defend our freedoms, including the opportunity to pursue a college education.”
The students are scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 16.
