By Jennifer Peñate
Click here for updates on this story
WORCESTER, Massachusetts (WCVB) — Five students at Assumption University face criminal charges after police say they lured a man to campus in a plot inspired by the TV series “To Catch a Predator.”
Police say the plot was not only inspired by the show but also a recent TikTok trend copying it.
Police the five students behind the attack invited the victim with the sole purpose of framing him as a sexual predator trying to meet underage girls. Only, police say, there was no predator to be caught, and this was all based on lies.
According to police, on Oct. 1, Assumption University student Kelsy Brainard, 18, was messaging the victim on the dating app Tinder. After the conversation turned sexual, her friends orchestrated the plot to lure the 22-year-old man to campus and ambush him, according to police.
Court documents state campus video shows Brainard leading the man to a basement lounge and then watching TV with him. Then nearly 30 students began confronting him, preventing him from leaving, and one underaged student can be seen assaulting him, police said.
Police said Brainard is seen laughing before the man escapes, and the mob of students chases him to his car. At that point, police said one of the students assaulted him using a car door. That student is identified as Kevin Carroll, 18, and is facing assault and battery charges.
The 22-year-old victim immediately reported this to Worcester police, which began the monthslong investigation.
Brainard, the woman at the center of the incident, is facing an intimidation charge for misleading police.
Brainard, Carroll, Isabella Trudeau, 18, Joaquin Smith, 18, and Easton Randall, 19, all face kidnapping and conspiracy charges.
Officers said there is no indication the victim was looking to meet underage girls.
“A review of Tinder messages shared by Ms. Brainard and the victim is negative for any indication that the subject was looking for underage girls to meet,” according to Assumption University police, adding, “the information Brainard was providing was not factual but falsification and lies.”
Students on campus said they received an email about the incident a couple of days ago and are shocked.
“I’ve seen on social media stuff like that, but I would never imagine it happening right here at my school, but um, that’s the first I heard of that,” said freshman Tiger An.
Assumption University released a statement, saying in part, “Our public safety team, in concert with other University departments, commenced an immediate and thorough investigation — with concern for the victim at the forefront — which resulted in the charges filed against the students …”
The victim’s father said he is currently serving in the Army and was deployed overseas days after the ambush at the university.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
