How a TikTok Trend Based onTo Catch a PredatorAllegedly Led to Innocent Man Being Lured to Campus and Beaten

Mar. 15, 2025

Assumption University.Photo:Christine Peterson / USA TODAY NETWORK

Christine Peterson / USA TODAY NETWORK

Kelsy Brainard, 18; Kevin Carroll, 18; Joaqin Smith, 18; Isabella Trudeau, 18; and Easton Randall, 19, all students at Assumption University, have been arrested in connection with the October incident, per police,WCVB, theTelegram and GazetteandNBC Bostonreported.

The show is the basis for a TikTok trend where many conduct their own versions of catching alleged sexual predators. Some of these are documented on TikTok with#tocatchapredator,with the hashtag featuring more than 12,000 videos on the platform.

Police allege in unspecified court documents that the suspects' plan began to take shape when Brainard was speaking with the victim on the dating app Tinder, WCVB, theTelegram and Gazetteand NBC Boston reported.

Once the victim managed to flee, the mob chased after him and Carroll allegedly assaulted the victim with a car door, per police.

As soon as the victim escaped, he reported the incident to police, prompting a months-long investigation.

Assumption University students accused of luring man to campus, attacking him

Investigators learned there was no evidence the man was seeking to have sex with an underage person, and Brainard’s Tinder profile showed her age to be 18, Assumption police said in a statement of facts filed in court, per theTelegram and Gazette.

“There is absolutely no evidence presented to indicate that (the man) was seeking sexual relations with underage girls,” Assumption police Sgt. Christopher Shea wrote in the filing, adding that the five suspects were “primary” actors in “inveigling” the victim.

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All five students have been charged with kidnapping; Brainard is facing an additional charge of intimidation, and Carroll is facing a charge of assault with a deadly weapon, WCVB, theTelegram and Gazettereported.

Assumption University did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment but said in a statement toTelegram and Gazettethat the university condemns the alleged attack and the alleged behavior is “antithetical to Assumption University’s mission and values.”

source: people.com