WORCESTER, Mass. — Five Massachusetts college students appeared in court Thursday accused of conspiring to lure a man to their campus through a dating app and then capture him as part of a "catch the predator" trend on TikTok.

The Assumption University students, all teenagers, were arraigned on conspiracy and kidnapping charges. All have entered not guilty pleas and will return to Worcester Magistrates' Court on March 28 for a pre-trial conference.

Defendants - Kelsy Brainard, 18; Easton Randall, 19; Kevin Carroll, 18; Isabella Trudeau, 18 ; Joaquin Smith, 18, stood emotionless in the courtroom, showing little emotion and addressing the judge only through his lawyer. A sixth defendant is being tried separately in juvenile court.

Police said Brainard's Tinder account was used to lure the man to a private Roman Catholic school in Worcester. She also faces an additional charge of witness intimidation. A male student in the group also faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

The target, a 22-year-old active-duty military member, told police he was in town for his grandmother's funeral in October and "just wanted to be around happy people," according to a campus police report. So he turned to Tinder, where a woman whose profile said she was 18 invited him over.

She reportedly greeted him and led him into the basement lounge, and within minutes, "a group of people came out of nowhere and started calling him a pedophile" and accusing him of wanting to have sex with a 17-year-old girl sexual relations. .

The man told police he broke free and was chased by at least 25 people to his car, where he was beaten on the head and had the door slammed before he managed to escape.

Campus surveillance video showed a large group of students, including the woman, "all holding cellphones and appearing to be recording the entire incident," a police statement said. The police report said they "laughed and high-fived each other" and it appeared to be "a staged incident" with no evidence the man was seeking sex with the underage girl.

Randall told officers they were inspired by the "Catch a Predator" trend, which he said is currently "very popular on TikTok." He said their group shared ideas on how to lure the man to campus by telling him on the Tinder app, then spread the word through dorm chat groups that there was a "predator" in the building, the report said.

Police said a review of the information showed there was no indication the man was looking for underage girls.

After the attack, Brainard reported the man to police as a sexual predator and said she was frightened by him. She said he came to campus uninvited and she texted a male friend, which resulted in him being chased away. Campus police concluded all were fake after reviewing surveillance records and discovering "first-person perspective videos" circulating among students.

The teenagers were ordered to have no contact with the targeted man before leaving court, with cameras trained on them.

"We're just looking forward to this process going smoothly," said Brainard's lawyer, Christopher Todd. Trudeau's lawyer, Robert Iacovelli, later said she was innocent. He filed a motion to dismiss the charges against her, saying authorities had no good reason to believe she committed a crime.

Other attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment on their requests.