Two women plead not guilty to armed robbery charge
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Two Lake County women, D’anja Lesley Charlo, 19, of Elmo, and Kiirstyn Nicole Fairchild, 19, of Polson, entered pleas of not guilty at District Court in Polson on Aug. 12 to charges stemming from an armed robbery at a Ronan residence on July 27.
According to court records, a man reported to law enforcement that two women had robbed him of a backpack, gun and binoculars, and then the women fled in an orange Chevy pickup. The man said one of the women had red hair and was brandishing a knife. The other woman had a large stick.
A Ronan police officer located a pickup matching the description provided by the alleged victim. A woman with red hair was driving it. As the officer followed the possible suspects, they sped up traveling south on U. S. Highway 93, and then the vehicle turned onto Eagle Pass Trail at speeds up to 100 mph.
The officer located the pickup and found it abandoned but idling in a private driveway. The officer observed numerous $20-dollar bills and the alleged victim’s backpack. The officer located both women, later identified as Fairchild and Charlo.
Charlo told the officer that they had gone to the alleged victim’s house with the intent to rob him and claim rape, and she had a mobile phone with text messages to corroborate her story of the planned robbery. Fairchild had told the officer that the two women went to the alleged victim’s house to borrow money but he attempted to rape her. She said she threw the gun and binoculars away in a field during the pursuit. They were never located.
District Judge James Manley set a trial date of Feb. 1 for both women. Bond is set in the amount of $100,000 for each.
