Maryland State Police arrested five people Friday in connection to what they say was the Tuesday kidnapping and assault of a couple in Westminster.
On Tuesday, troopers responded to a home in Westminster for the report of a kidnapping. When they arrived, a woman told them that her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend were held captive. The mother had received a phone call from her daughter, the state police said in a Saturday email.
Authorities are withholding the identities of the victims at this time.
During the investigation, police found the male victim in a broken-down vehicle on Tuesday in a Westminster restaurant parking lot. After being interviewed on the scene, he was treated for injuries at the Carroll Hospital Center.
A female victim was found uninjured in a different parking lot at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Investigators believe the victims were forced into an SUV in front of a convenience store on Main Street in Westminster at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and were loosely acquainted with their alleged kidnappers, police said.
Police arrested Dequan Gaines, 27; Brian Johnson, 30; Jordan Riley, 29; Marc Rivera, 21; and his sister Sylena Rivera, 19; all of Westminster.
Gaines, Riley and Marc Rivera are charged with kidnapping, second-degree assault, false imprisonment and extortion. Johnson and Sylena Rivers are charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and extortion.
All five are held without bond at the Carroll County Detention Center.
