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2 alleged gang members charged with Andover kidnapping
Members of the Trinitarios gang impersonated law enforcement officials during the kidnapping, prosecutors said.
Two Lawrence men are facing charges for allegedly posing as law enforcement officers to kidnap a man last year, according to U.S. Attorney Leah Foley’s office.
Isiah Medina, 25, and Rodderith Peralta, 26, each face one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping. They are both currently in custody on unrelated state charges and are scheduled to appear in federal court next week.
Prosecutors say that they are connected to the Lawrence chapter for the Trinitarios gang. Medina goes by the nickname “Ice,” and Peralta goes by the nickname “Mago,” prosecutors said.
The alleged kidnapping occurred on the evening of May 5, 2024, in Andover. Police were dispatched to Shattuck Road after receiving a 911 call about someone screaming for help and being pushed into the back seat of a Jeep.
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The victim later told investigators that he was approached by at least five masked men, who handcuffed and used pepper spray on him. He broke out a rear window of the Jeep on the highway and briefly escaped from his captors at a location in Haverhill, the victim said, according to court documents.
He claimed to have been kept in a basement in Lowell for days. Photos and images allegedly taken by the man’s captors show him handcuffed with a winter hat covering his face. One image indicates that they allowed him to smoke. Other evidence suggests that he was not given access to a bathroom while in captivity, according to the charging documents.
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A cooperating witness with ties to the Trinitarios told investigators that Medina, in particular, wanted to kidnap the victim because he was interfering in the gang’s drug distribution operation in Maine. That person also told authorities that Medina and Peralta made calls to family members and associates of the victim, trying to seek a ransom for his release, according to the documents. They eventually determined that “no one was going to pay for him” and decided to let him go, the victim told officials.
The victim was located three days later at a CVS in Lowell. He told police that he was hesitant to contact them because the people who kidnapped him could still be watching and knew where his mother lived, according to the documents.
In April 2025, Medina was arrested on an unrelated case, and police searched his cell phone. They found photos and videos of the victim being held captive. In one video, Peralta’s hand can allegedly be seen “interacting” with the victim’s face. Investigators identified Peralta by a tattoo on his hand, according to prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors charged 22 members of the Trinitarios gang earlier this year with committing a variety of crimes, including six murders and 11 attempted murders. The gang was founded at Rikers Island prison in New York City in the early ’90s. It allegedly operates chapters in Lawrence, Lynn, Boston, and Haverhill. A Boston Globe report from earlier this year described how the gang apparently uses rituals and violence to control members.
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