Suspects arrested in hotel robbery

A 19-year-old Kalispell man wanted in connection with the April 7 robbery of the Holiday Inn Express was arrested by Kalispell police on June 11.

According to police reports, Derrick Irvine told a female hotel employee that he intended to rob the hotel after she showed him a large amount of cash kept in the money drawer.

Officers responded to the hotel on the U.S. 93 strip about 11 p.m. after Irvine allegedly confronted the night clerk with what was described as a bomb or bear spray. Irvine reportedly fled the scene on a motorcycle with more than $400 from the hotel cash drawer. The lone employee behind the front desk was not injured.

Whitefish police arrested Irvine’s alleged accomplice, Nicole Chappel, 18, of Columbia Falls, on June 10. She was charged with felony accountability to robbery and released on house arrest following an initial appearance in Flathead County Justice Court.

Irvine was located the next day at his father and step-mother’s home in Kalispell and arrested by Kalispell police.

Both Irvine and Chappel face up to 40 years in prison and a $50,000 fine if convicted.