Army soldier accused of being targeted in 'To Catch a Predator' TikTok trend by private college students pleads not guilty.

On Thursday, five students at a Massachusetts Christian college appeared in court for the first time, charged with enticing an Army soldier onto their campus through a dating app and assaulting him in a "To Catch a Predator" TikTok trend.

On Thursday, five Assumption University students were charged with conspiracy and kidnapping in Worcester District Court. Not-guilty pleas were automatically entered for Easton Randall, Kevin Carroll, Isabella Trudeau, Joaquin Smith, and 18-year-old Kelsy Brainard, whose Tinder account was used to entice the 22-year-old Army soldier.

A juvenile has also been charged and the five other students are set to reappear in court on March 28, according to online records.

The 22-year-old victim was deployed to the Middle East shortly after the traumatic event.

The soldier, who was attending his grandmother's funeral in Worcester on Oct. 1, later told Assumption University police that he had agreed to meet with Brainard on Tinder that evening and that they "were going to try to hook up." He stated that he had just wanted to be around people who were happy after the burial service.

According to the charging documents obtained by Planet Chronicle Digital, there was no evidence presented to suggest that the victim was seeking sexual relationships with underage girls and was using Tinder for its original purpose of initiating a hookup, as indicated by his messages with Brainard on the app and shared with police and Brainard's profile.

Just minutes after the victim met Brainard, a "mass" of 25 to 30 people gathered, branding him a "pedophile" who "enjoyed having sex with 17-year-old girls." Prior to being surrounded, the victim was seated beside Brainard in a student lounge, watching a game. Surveillance footage revealed that they had "ample personal space between them," and Brainard was "laughing and smiling."

The group surrounded the victim and prevented him from escaping at approximately 10:30 p.m., according to police. Despite managing to break free, the victim was pursued by a crowd that was recorded on their phones.

A juvenile student punched a soldier in the back of the head, and then Carroll slammed the victim's head in his car door and students kicked the victim's vehicle as he rushed out of the parking lot, according to court documents.

According to court documents, Carroll is facing an additional charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

The group was caught on surveillance footage re-entering the building, laughing and "high-fiving" each other, a few minutes later.

Brainard informed campus police that a man approached her on campus seeking to meet an underage girl. She stated that she had communicated with Randall, who arrived in the lounge to assist her in dealing with a sexual predator.

Although she stated that she encountered the "creepy" man on Tinder, she asserted that he arrived on campus without an invitation.

Despite the campus police's efforts, they were unable to locate the suspected perpetrator on campus. However, after being contacted by Worcester Police regarding a report of an assault at Assumption University, they initiated a review of security footage and conducted interviews with students.

The students now facing criminal charges were part of a smaller group that allegedly conspired to lure the victim to the property and solicited assistance to catch a predator via group texts.

According to court documents, the objective of the Tinder invite was to imitate the TikTok trend of enticing a sexual predator to a location and then physically attacking him or contacting the police.

Randall later told police that the idea of Catch a Predator came to mind when the accused students were all sitting together and Brainard was sending Tinder messages back and forth with the victim.

"All of them offered suggestions and concurred on the text message sent to [the victim], and the others became part of the conspiracy despite being aware of the illegal plan."

According to police, Randall stated that "Catch a Predator was a popular trend on TikTok, but it escalated and resulted in negative consequences."

According to court records, when the victim arrived on campus, one of the men sent a text message to the group chat stating that they "had to come down here" because they were "catching a predator," which triggered a "rabid" reaction from the students.

Brainard claimed she was unaware of the consequences of falsifying records when confronted by campus police, but surveillance footage showed her laughing and smiling as the male students attacked her Tinder match.

The six students' attorneys did not respond to Planet Chronicle Digital's request for comment.