Students charged after TikTok “To Catch a Predator” challenge goes wrong

Multiple students at Assumption University in Massachusetts are facing kidnapping and conspiracy charges after allegedly attacking a man they lured to campus on Tinder for a TikTok challenge.

The iconic “To Catch A Predator” TV show which starred Chris Hansen, featured alleged predators being exposed after believing they were going to meet with children.

In the years since, the show’s popularity has spawned many imitators in the streaming world and a TikTok challenge that has some students in hot water.

On December 4, police received a criminal complaint about an incident that reportedly occurred on October 1 when a man was lured to campus by an 18-year-old student on Tinder only to be attacked by a “mob.”

University students charged with kidnapping after TikTok challenge

According to CBS, Joaquin Smith, Isabella Trudeau, Kevin Carroll, Kelsy Brainard, and Easton Randall have been charged with kidnapping and conspiracy after their challenge got out of hand.

18-year-old Kelsy Brainard used Tinder to invite the man to campus where a group planned “to simulate the TikTok fad of luring a sexual predator to a location and subsequently physically assaulting him or calling the police.”

Brainard had allegedly told Assumption University police that she was a victim when a “creepy guy” she met on Tinder came to the school trying to meet an underage girl.

However, the Worcester Police Department would later receive a complaint from the man who claimed he was attacked by a mob of at least 25 people.

A police report states that the man, who was only in Worcester to attend his grandmother’s funeral, went to meet with a girl inside the reception hall and was confronted by a group of students.

The report also says the man was restrained at first, but that he managed to get away. In the struggle, he was punched and even had his car door slammed on him.

“Upon obtaining footage it is determined that the report filed by Ms. Brainard was false and fabricated and her victimization was fraudulently reported to mislead police in believing a sexual predator was on campus to conceal that the subject was lured to campus to be caught as a sexual predator by a group of students lacking legal authority to do so,” the report revealed.

The police also said that the primary group of students responsible had exchanged messages about what to text the man to get him to come to campus.

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“The premeditated gathering and staging of the students in the lounge area to catch this subject… was conducted by the use of trickery or deceit to seize, confine or kidnap this person.”

A spokesperson for the university called the students’ alleged behavior “abhorrent” and said it condemns “all forms of violence and misconduct.”

Carroll has also been charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. His alleged accomplice, Brainard, faces a witness intimidation charge.

The students are scheduled to be arraigned in Worcester District Court on January 16th.