Five students at a Christian college in Massachusetts appeared in court for the first time Thursday, accused of using a dating app to lure an Army soldier to their campus and attacking him in a TikTok "catch the predator" trend.
The Assumption University student was arraigned in Worcester District Court on Thursday on conspiracy and kidnapping charges. Easton Randall, 19, entered an automatic plea of ​​not guilty; Kevin Carroll, 18; Isabella Trudeau, 18; Joaquin Smith, 18; Kelsy Brainard, 18, whose Tinder account was used to lure the 22-year-old Army soldier.
They are scheduled to appear in court again on March 28, according to online court records. A sixth teenage student was also charged.
A relative of the victim told Fox Digital News that the 22-year-old victim was deployed to the Middle East shortly after the tragic incident.
College students charged with ambushing US soldiers in 'catch predators' TikTok program: Police
Kelsy Brainard leaves the courthouse following her trial Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in U.S. District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. Brainard was one of six Assumption University students arrested for ambushing a U.S. soldier as part of the "Catch the Predator" online trend. (David McGlynn, Fox News Digital)
The unassuming man told police he was attending his grandmother's funeral in Worcester on Oct. 1 when he agreed to meet Brainard on Tinder that night. The soldier later told Assumption University police that they were "going to try to hook up" and that he "just wanted to be with someone who was happy after the funeral."
According to the messages he exchanged with Brainard on the app and shared with police, as well as Brainard's profile, which showed she was 18 at the time, "there is absolutely no evidence that (the victim) was seeking to have sex with an underage girl." "Using Tinder's original design... to initiate hookups," police wrote in charging documents obtained by Fox News Digital.
Minutes after the victim met Brainard, a "crowd" of 25 to 30 people showed up, calling him a "pedophile" who "liked to have sex with 17-year-old girls." The victim sat next to Brainard in the student lounge watching the game before being surrounded, and surveillance footage showed there was "plenty of personal space between them" and Brainard was "laughing."
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Isabella Trudeau was arraigned on Thursday, January 16, 2025, in the District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. Trudeau was one of six Assumption University students arrested for ambushing a U.S. soldier as part of the "Catch the Predator" online trend. (David McGlynn, Fox News Digital)
Police wrote that surveillance video showed the group surrounding the victim around 10:30 p.m. and preventing him from leaving. The victim eventually broke free but he was "pursued by a clearly visible crowd who recorded the pursuit on their mobile phones".
Police said the soldier was struck in the back of the head by a teenage student, who was not named in court documents because of his age. According to court documents, Carroll then banged the victim's head against the car door and the students kicked the victim's vehicle as the victim sprinted out of the parking lot.
Carroll also faces additional charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, court documents show.
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Joaquin Smith leaves the courthouse following his trial Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025, in U.S. District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. Smith was one of six Assumption University students arrested for ambushing a U.S. soldier as part of the "Catch the Predator" online trend. (David McGlynn, Fox News Digital)
Minutes later, the group could be seen on surveillance video reentering the building while laughing and "high-fiving" each other, police wrote.
Campus police became aware of the incident after Brainerd reported "a creepy guy coming to campus looking for an underage girl." She said she texted Randall, who "came down (into the break room) to help (her) deal with the sexual predator."
At La Maison Francaise on the Assumption University campus, a 22-year-old soldier was allegedly lured through Tinder on October 1 and attacked by students. (Rick Cinclair/Telegram & Gazette/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
Although she said she met the "creepy" man on Tinder, she claimed he "came (to campus) uninvited."
Campus police were unable to find the alleged predator on campus, but they began reviewing security footage and interviewing students after Worcester police contacted a man to report an assault at Assumption University.
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Kevin Carroll was arraigned on Thursday, January 16, 2025, in the District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. Carroll was one of six Assumption College students arrested for ambushing a U.S. soldier as part of the "Catch the Predator" online trend. He faces additional charges for allegedly slamming the victim's head into a car door. (David McGlynn, Fox News Digital)
Further investigation revealed that a "small portion of the larger group" - the students currently facing criminal charges - allegedly "conspired with each other to lure the victims to the property and send group text messages asking for help 'catching the predators' '."
"The purpose of the Tinder invitations was to imitate the TikTok fashion of luring a sexual predator to a location and then physically assaulting or calling the police," according to court documents.
Randall later told police that the accused students were sitting together while Brainard and the victim were texting Tinder messages back and forth and "the idea of ​​'catch the predator' was going through my mind."
Easton Randall was arraigned on Thursday, January 16, 2025, in the District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. Randall was one of six Assumption University students arrested for ambushing a U.S. soldier as part of the "Catch the Predator" online trend. (David McGlynn, Fox News Digital)
"They all made suggestions and agreed to the contents of the text messages sent to (the victim)... Others joined the conspiracy with knowledge of the illegal plans."
Randall told campus police, "Catching predators is a big thing on TikTok right now, but things got out of hand and got ugly," police wrote.
Joaquin Smith was arraigned on Thursday, January 16, 2025, in the District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts. Smith was one of six Assumption University students arrested for ambushing a U.S. soldier as part of the "Catch the Predator" online trend. (David McGlynn, Fox News Digital)
The court heard that when the victim arrived on campus, one of the men simply texted in the group chat that they "had to be here" because they were "catching predators", which caused the students to go "crazy" Response recording.
Assumption University is located in Worcester, Massachusetts. (Christina Peterson/Worcester Telegram and Gazette via USA TODAY NETWORK)
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Records show Brainard diminished her responsibility, telling campus police she "didn't know what to expect" when faced with the forgery. But police wrote that surveillance video showed her laughing as the male student suddenly attacked her Tinder date.
Attorneys representing the six students did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.