Six college students in Massachusetts were accused of luring an active-duty service member whom they falsely described as a sexual predator to their campus, where he was chased by a group of more than two dozen people and assaulted, authorities said.
One of the accused students told police that the plot was inspired by “To Catch a Predator,” the discontinued NBC show that, during its three seasons, aimed to catch adults seeking to prey on minors using covert cameras. and decoys posing as underage dates. according to the facts of the case.
“Catching a predator is a big thing on TikTok right now,” the factual document quotes student Easton Randall, 19, as saying.
Eleven Illinois teens were charged last month in a similar incident that authorities in Mount Prospect, northwest of Chicago, attributed to a “viral trend on social media.”
In a statement at the time, the city’s police department did not provide additional details about the trend, but Police Chief Michael Eterno pleaded with parents “to use these incidents as an opportunity to talk to their teens about the seriousness to actively participate in these types of trends that you see on social media.”
At Assumption University, the private Catholic university in Worcester where the six people accused in the plot are students, there was “absolutely” no evidence that the man accused by students of being a predator had been seeking sexual relations with a minor, he says. the statement.
Still, he was pursued by what the statement described as a “mob” of between 25 and 30 people (some of them filming the chase) and caught in a conspiracy carried out by a group of six that included accusations of “systemic mistreatment.” , false imprisonment, physical assault and battery, and possible defamation,” according to the university police sergeant who wrote the statement.
Accused of kidnapping and conspiracy
One of the students is identified in the statement as a minor and his charges are not included in a criminal complaint filed last month. The other five students, including Randall, were charged with kidnapping and conspiracy, the complaint shows.
Two other students were charged with additional crimes. Kelsy Brainard, 18, was charged with intimidation. Kevin Carroll, 18, was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Messages left with attorneys for Carroll and a second defendant were not returned. A relative of Randall’s declined to comment. A message left for another defendant at a phone number listed as a family member was not returned, nor was a message sent through Facebook to a profile with Brainard’s name.
In a statement, Assumption University President Greg Weiner said the behavior described in the court filing is “abhorrent and contrary to the mission and values of Assumption University. In all circumstances, we expect our students to exercise good judgment and uphold the principles of respect, responsibility and character that define our community.”
Once the incident was reported, Weiner said, the school’s public safety department investigated the allegations and filed criminal charges.
“This situation is particularly sobering because the victim is an active duty military service member,” he said. “Their service reminds us of the sacrifices made by those who defend our freedoms, including the opportunity to pursue a college education.”
Reached by phone, the victim’s father told NBC News that his son is 22 years old. He declined to identify which branch of the military his son serves in and said it appears authorities are doing their job.
“They’re doing their due diligence and these kids seem to have hanged themselves with their own words,” he said.
House to attend a funeral
According to the statement of facts, the Oct. 1, 2024, incident was initially reported to university officials the next day, when Brainard said a “creepy” contact from the Tinder app had arrived on campus looking to meet a girl from 17 years old. He texted a friend, Randall, who chased the person away, according to the release.
In a subsequent interview with campus police, Brainard reiterated this claim and said he had been a victim of unsolicited contact, according to the statement.
The Worcester Police Department later connected campus authorities to the service member, who provided a completely different account.
He told campus police that he had been home to attend his grandmother’s funeral and began messaging someone on Tinder because he “just wanted to be around happy people,” according to the statement.
He and Brainard were planning to hook up, he told police, and she invited him to meet at an alumni lounge on campus, according to the statement.
Attacked by a mob
He had been inside the building for a few minutes, the statement said, “when a group of people came out of nowhere and started calling him a pedophile and accusing him of liking 17-year-old girls.”
“He could not leave because they grabbed him and prevented him from leaving,” the statement said. “The subject reported that he managed to free himself and ran up the stairs being chased by a group of 25 or more people.”
He told police they chased him to his car, punched him in the head and slammed the door, the statement said. After he was able to flee the campus, he called police, the statement said.
A review of campus security video detailed in the statement confirmed the victim’s account. The video captured the students berating the victim as a sexual predator, recording the chase as they chased him and high-fiving him a few minutes later, after one of the alleged attackers was caught slamming the car door on his head, according to the statement.
A review of Tinder messages showed the service member believed he was meeting an 18-year-old, the statement said. The woman’s profile indicated that she was 18 years old. When officers asked Brainard where the information about an underage girl came from, the statement added, “she was unable to respond.”
‘Call the police or kick their asses’
Randall told authorities that after learning Brainard was messaging the victim, six students came up with the idea of luring him to campus.
“He reported that it was like the Chris Hansen videos where you catch a predator and call the police or kick his butt,” the statement said, referring to the “To Catch a Predator” host.
The show, which aired from 2004 to 2007, used hidden cameras and people posing as minors in online chat rooms in an effort to lure suspected predators to homes where Hansen would confront them. The program did not tolerate or include any type of violence.
After a Texas prosecutor who was the subject of one of the show’s investigations died by suicide, his family sued the network for $105 million in 2007. NBC settled the following year for an undisclosed amount, saying that the matter had been “amicably resolved.”
In his interview with campus police, Randall said he and several others made suggestions about what Brainard should say in his messages to the service member, the statement said. After luring him to campus, the group “gathered” others at the university through an alumni group chat, a move that sparked a “raging response” from the dozens of participants in the event, according to the statement.
Later, according to the statement, Randall acknowledged to authorities: “This got out of control and went wrong.”