Charges dropped against college students in ‘Catch a Predator' trend
A judge has dismissed conspiracy and kidnapping charges against five Massachusetts college students who were accused of plotting to lure a man to their campus using a dating app.
The Assumption University students, all teenagers, were accused of seizing the man as part of a "Catch a Predator" trend on social media. They were arraigned in January and entered not guilty pleas. Their lawyers subsequently filed motions seeking to dismiss the charges, arguing that authorities lacked probable cause to believe they committed any crimes.
Following a hearing last month, a Worcester District Court judge dismissed the conspiracy and kidnapping charges against Kelsy Brainard, Easton Randall, Kevin Carroll, Isabella Trudeau, and Joaquin Smith on Tuesday. It is not yet known whether charges are still pending against a sixth student, whose case is being handled in juvenile court.
'Isabella is very happy the judge applied the law correctly,' her lawyer, Robert Iacovelli, told WCVB-TV.
Police say Brainard's Tinder account was used to lure the man to the private, Roman Catholic university in Worcester last October.
Brainard still faces a charge of witness intimidation stemming from the encounter. Carroll also still faces a charge of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Messages seeking comment were emailed Wednesday to the Worcester County District Attorney's office and to the university, where campus police had conducted an investigation.
The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported that defense lawyers entered into the court record a video of a university police officer interrogating one of the students as part of their argument to dismiss the charges. They said the officer presented an incomplete and distorted picture of the evidence.
A report filed by campus police said a 22-year-old active-duty military service member connected with a woman on Tinder and was invited inside a basement lounge. Within minutes, 'a group of people came out of nowhere and started calling him a pedophile,' accusing him of wanting sex with 17-year-old girls, according to the report.
The man told police that he broke free and was chased by at least 25 people to his car, where he was punched in the head and his car door was slammed on him before he managed to flee.
Campus surveillance video shows a large group of students, including the woman, 'all with their cellphones out in what seems to be a recording of the whole episode,' the police statement said. They are seen 'laughing and high fiving with each other' in what appeared to be 'a deliberately staged event,' and there was no evidence to indicate the man was seeking sexual relations with girls, the police report said.
Randall had told officers they were inspired by the 'catch a predator' trend, which he said 'is big on TikTok." He said their group shared ideas of what to tell the man through the Tinder app to lure him to campus, and then spread word through a dormitory chat group that a 'predator' was in the building, the report said.
After the assault, Brainard reported the man to police as a sexual predator, police said, which they determined to be false.
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