Five Massachusetts college students appeared in court on Thursday, facing charges of conspiracy and kidnapping after allegedly planning to lure a man to their campus through a dating app as part of a 'Catch a Predator' trend on TikTok. The Assumption University students, all teenagers, stood before the judge with not-guilty pleas entered on their behalf.
The defendants, identified as Kelsy Brainard, Easton Randall, Kevin Carroll, Isabella Trudeau, and Joaquin Smith, were accused of using Brainard's Tinder account to entice a 22-year-old military service member to the private school in Worcester. The man, in town for his grandmother's funeral, was allegedly ambushed by a group of individuals who accused him of inappropriate intentions towards underage girls.
