In a turn of events at Assumption University in Worcester, Massachusetts, a group of five students who stood accused of concocting a plan to lure a man into a TikTok-inspired 'Catch a Predator' trap saw the majority of the charges against them dropped. The Worcester District Attorney's Office, as reported by NBC Boston, confirmed that the charges of kidnapping and conspiracy were dismissed by a judge in Worcester District Court yesterday.
In an incident taking place last fall, six individuals, including Kelsy Brainard, Easton Randall, Kevin Carroll, Isabella Trudeau, and Joaquin Smith, were implicated in a scheme where they supposedly used a dating app to attract a man to their campus, only to accuse him of being a sexual predator. However, Brainard still remains charged with intimidating a witness, while Carroll is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. The sixth defendant, a minor, was arraigned separately, and their case details have not been disclosed.
This ambush was framed as part of the 'Catch a Predator' trend on TikTok, as described in a campus police report referenced by WCVB. The target, a 22-year-old active-duty military member in town for his grandmother's funeral, was allegedly invited by Brainard and then confronted by a group calling him a pedophile. The man reported to the police that he wanted to be "around people that were happy" and denied any intention of seeking relations with underage girls.
Assumption University campus police, after reviewing video surveillance and examining the spread of 'first person perspective videos' among students, determined that Brainard's account of events was fabricated. Despite her claim that she was scared by the man and that he arrived on campus uninvited, police found that she had indeed invited him, leading to the staged confrontation. Defense attorney Robert Iacovelli, representing Trudeau, stated, "Isabella is very happy the judge applied the law correctly," signaling the relief of his client after the charges against her dropped, as per WCVB. The court has ordered all involved teens to maintain no contact with the man, who, according to his father, was deployed overseas shortly after the ordeal at the university.
