Five people arrested, charged in couple’s kidnapping in Westminster, police say

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.