Providence man pleads guilty to cocaine trafficking, plot to kidnap U.S. Postal worker

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A Providence man pleaded guilty Thursday to cocaine trafficking conspiracy and a plot to kidnap a U.S. Postal worker in federal court.

Irving Medina, 35, admitted to conspiracy to possess 500 grams or more of cocaine with intent to distribute and kidnapping a letter carrier at gunpoint while in search of cocaine they said was missing from a delivered package.

Medina participated in surveillance efforts to retrieve three packages containing cocaine that were mailed from Puerto Rico and were to be delivered to addresses associated with his co-conspirators.

Medina also admitted to assisting his co-conspirators in surveilling outside a USPS post office on May 28, 2021 and identified a USPS letter carrier they wanted to abduct.

The group then conducted surveillance outside of the letter carrier’s home on May 29, 2021.

In the investigation, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Medina’s home and seized fifty bags of fentanyl, $800 in cash, bags filled with cocaine base and the cutting agent Manitol.

Medina will be sentenced on June 13.