WORCESTER ― A lawyer for one of five Assumption University students set to be arraigned Thursday in Central District Court for allegedly kidnapping a man as part of a TikTok trend gone awry said Wednesday that his client maintains her innocence and will seek a swift dismissal of the charges against her.
In a statement to the Telegram & Gazette, Worcester lawyer Robert Iacovelli wrote that the allegations against his client, 18-year-old Isabella Trudeau, of Sterling, are based on statements from codefendants whom police have accused of lying about their own involvement in what occurred.
“I would like to move the case to trial as soon as the court allows,” Iacovelli told the T&G on Wednesday, adding he intends on filing a motion to dismiss her case Thursday.
Trudeau is one of six students, including an unnamed juvenile, charged by Assumption police following an Oct. 1 incident at the school that has made national headlines.
Trudeau and the four named codefendants – 19-year-old Easton Randall, of Jericho, Vermont; 18-year-old Kevin Carroll, of Holden; 18-year-old Kelsy Brainard, of Holyoke; and 18-year-old Joaqin Smith, of West Haven, Connecticut – are accused of being part of a “core” group of instigators who led a “mob” of more than 20 students to attack a man police say was falsely accused of being a sexual predator.
The group, following a trend on TikTok inspired by the TV series “To Catch a Predator,” accused the man of attempting to meet an underage girl for sex, police said, and then filmed themselves assaulting him.
Assumption police say the Tinder profile of the woman who communicated with the man, Brainard, noted that she was 18. They said they did not uncover any evidence he had been seeking sex with an underage person.
Court papers said the man had been in Worcester for his grandmother’s funeral. In a statement denouncing the students’ alleged actions, Assumption University said the situation was “particularly sobering because the victim is an active-duty military service member.”
“His service reminds us of the sacrifices made by those who defend our freedoms, including the opportunity to pursue a college education,” the university wrote. “Students are drawn to Assumption because of the values we share and embrace – values that call us to treat every human person with dignity.”
The incident at the private Catholic university, police said, appears to be tied to a trend on TikTok in which people try to ensnare pedophiles or sexual predators and post the confrontations online.
Sometimes such operations lead to convictions, but often they do not, USA TODAY has reported, and many authorities warn people against conducting such stings, which can turn violent.
In the Assumption case, police alleged the charged students coordinated to lure the man to campus, then falsely alleged on a text thread to a group of other male students that someone was coming to sleep with an underage girl.
Police say surveillance video captures a group of men emerging from “secreted” locations in a lounge area of Alumni Hall around 10:30 p.m. and berating the man while he was calmly sitting near Brainard.
They allege the man was physically prevented from leaving before breaking free and running out of the building. The “mob” of students gave chase, police allege, with the minor striking the man in the head and another person, allegedly Carroll, hitting him with his car door.
Police wrote in court papers that video suggests the entire episode lasted less than three minutes, and shows that after the man fled in his car, “you see the group coming back in (Alumni Hall), laughing and high-fiving with each other.”
Police alleged that Brainard initially reported a false story about what had occurred to police, and that she and all the other defendants continued to repeat the false story “into the interviews and interrogation.”
Police wrote that Randall eventually identified the “core group of conspirators” by name, and that Carroll admitted to slamming the man’s head with the car door.
Police alleged that Smith and Trudeau “lied about their involvement,” writing that Trudeau “deflected responsibility onto the guys forcing Ms. Brainard to go out and get this guy and that she was only concerned for Ms. Brainard’s safety from this stranger coming to campus.”
Carroll’s lawyer, Leonardo Angiulo of Worcester, did not return a request for comment. A message left Wednesday with a lawyer for Randall and Smith, George Panos of Dracut, was not readily returned, while a lawyer for Brainard, Christopher Todd of Springfield, declined to comment.
All five students face a charge of kidnapping – a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison – as well as conspiracy in connection with the case.
Brainard is additionally charged with witness intimidation, while Carroll is additionally charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: College student charged in ‘Predator’ hunting case says she’s innocent