Five Chambersburg residents charged after fight at Inwood nightclub

INWOOD, W.Va. — A reported fight in progress at a West Virginia nightclub ended with five Chambersburg, Pa., residents charged Sunday morning in Maryland.

All five suspects face drug and gun charges, according to online Maryland court records.

Berkeley County Sheriff Curtis Keller said his department received a call Sunday shortly after 3 a.m. for a fight in progress at Coco Loco Night Club, with someone brandishing a weapon.

The incident at 1020 Pilgrim St. in Inwood was reported to Berkeley County 911 on Sunday at 3:02 a.m., a supervisor said.

The suspects fled the club while deputies were on their way, Keller said. Authorities broadcasted a description of the suspects' vehicle and a West Virginia State Police trooper spotted it on northbound Interstate 81 near the Maryland state line.

At 3:23 a.m., Maryland State Police received information from West Virginia State Police about a gray Toyota Sienna minivan with Pennsylvania registration that was involved in an assault with a handgun in Berkeley County, according to a probable-cause statement emailed by Maryland State Police.

West Virginia State Police Senior Trooper D.M. Simerly tried to initiate a traffic stop, but the van didn't stop until after it entered Maryland on I-81 south of Lappans Road.

Maryland State Police Master Trooper Andre Butler wrote in the statement of probable cause that Simerly spotted a suspected drug in the van.

A Ruger SR22 handgun and a clear plastic bag containing suspected illegal drugs were found in the rear cargo area, according to the statement. The gun was loaded with a .22-caliber round, and an inserted magazine contained another round.

Butler also searched the van and found a clear plastic bag containing a tan powder, which he identified as heroin, according to the statement.

Also found was a large resealable plastic bag containing four small blue, resealable plastic bags and one clear plastic bag holding a white powder, which Butler identified as cocaine, he wrote. In the large bag were 19 empty resealable baggies.

Two more .22-caliber rounds were found on the floor of the van.

The driver and van owner, Yaneth Suyaba Espinoza-Caballero, 48, also is known as Yaneth Suyaba Espinoza, according to the statement of probable cause and Butler, who was interviewed by telephone Sunday.

She and the four passengers were charged with two counts of drug possession — not marijuana, and one count each of having a handgun in a vehicle and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to online Maryland court records.

The four passengers were Leselias Gomez, 30; Mandy Jullisa Perez-Espinoza, 21; Noe Hernandez-Morales, 28; and Geremias Roblero-Morales, 22, according to Butler.

"Hernandez-Morales and Espinoza-Caballero both appeared to have been involved in a physical altercation with wrinkled, scuffed clothing and blood spots," Butler wrote in the statement of probable cause.

Perez-Espinoza told police that the gun was hers and she usually kept it in the glove compartment, Butler wrote.

She said while they were at Coco Loco, they got in an altercation with her ex-boyfriend and "his associates," according to the statement.

Perez-Espinoza told police that at some point during the incident, Roblero-Morales got the gun from the glove compartment and put it in the rear cargo area of the van "so nobody would get in trouble with it," according to the statement of probable cause.

The handgun wasn't registered.

Perez-Espinoza told police she had no knowledge of the suspected drugs found in the van.

All five suspects were taken to the Washington County Detention Center, where they were awaiting a hearing with a court commissioner.