How a TikTok Trend Based on To Catch a Predator Allegedly Led to Innocent Man Being Lured to Campus and Beaten

Authorities in Massachusetts have arrested five college students for allegedly luring in a 22-year-old man and falsely claiming he was seeking sex with an underage girl — all as part of a TikTok trend. 

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, the Telegram and Gazette and NBC Boston reported. 

The suspects allegedly carried out their attack as part of a TikTok trend based on the TV series To Catch a Predator, a reality TV show on NBC about investigators carrying out sting operations to catch men trying to have sex with minors.

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, the Telegram and Gazette and NBC Boston reported. 

Once the conversation turned sexual, Brainard allegedly lured the man to a basement on campus on Oct. 1, where he was soon confronted by a large group of students, police said, per the outlets. 

The “mob” of 30 students were allegedly mobilized by the five suspects who told them the victim was seeking sex with an underage person, Assumption University police claim in court documents, the outlets reported.

When the large group showed up and confronted the victim, one underage student allegedly assaulted him while Brainard laughed, as caught in campus videos cited by police in the documents, per WVCB. 

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. 

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 the Telegram 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 Gazette reported.

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

It wasn’t immediately clear if the suspects have entered pleas or retained attorneys to speak on their behalf. Assumption University police did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comments.