'Mob' of college students attack man in TikTok-inspired trap, police say
Six college students in Massachusetts were accused of luring an active-duty service member whom they falsely described as a sexual predator to their campus, where a group of more than two dozen people chased and assaulted him, authorities said.
Six college students in Massachusetts were accused of luring an active-duty service member whom they falsely described as a sexual predator to their campus, where a group of more than two dozen people chased and assaulted him, authorities said.
One of the students who was charged told police that the plot was modeled on “To Catch a Predator,” NBC’s discontinued program that, during its three seasons, aimed to catch adults seeking to prey on minors using undercover cameras and decoys impersonating underage dates, according to a statement of facts in the case.
“Catch a predator is a big thing on TikTok currently,” the facts document cites the student, Easton Randall, 19, as saying.
The Assumption University campus in Worcester, Mass.NBC BostonEleven Illinois teens were charged last month in a similar incident that authorities in Mount Prospect, northwest of Chicago, attributed to a “viral social media trend.”
In a statement at the time, the city’s police department did not provide additional details about the trend. Police Chief Michael Eterno pleaded with parents “to take these incidents as an opportunity to talk with their teenage children about the seriousness of actively participating in these types of trends they see on social media.”
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