A Evergreen woman whose boyfriend held up a west Kalispell casino last year has pleaded innocent to orchestrating the heist.

Prosecutors allege that Shannon Sherwood, 33, convinced her boyfriend to stage a robbery to cover up a $4,900 shortfall in her cash register at the Gold Dust Casino, where she was a bartender and floor attendant.

Sherwood entered not guilty pleas to felony theft by embezzlement and felony accountability to theft during her arraignment Thursday in Flathead County District Court.

After the hold-up, police discovered that the would-be robber, 37-year-old Jason Robert Skalsky, was Sherwood's boyfriend. He pleaded guilty last month to felony theft.

Because investigators believe the heist was an inside job, there was no fear or threat of violence to Sherwood and prosecutors had to drop robbery charges, according to Deputy Flathead County Attorney Caleb E. Simpson. Pursuant to a plea bargain, prosecutors will recommend Skalsky receive a three-year probationary sentence.

Skalsky, who brandished a toy gun during the heist, eventually told investigators it was Sherwood who came up with the idea of staging the robbery, according to court documents.

Kalispell police responded to the casino, located in the 1000 block of U.S. 2 West, at 11:45 p.m. on Oct. 26 after a customer called to report a man wearing a Halloween mask had robbed a casino attendant.

Sherwood, who couldn't give police a description of the suspect after the hold-up, told investigators that a man had forced her to lead him to the safe and then close the door to the room.

The suspect, later identified as Skalsky, dropped the replica pistol and the bag of money during a scuffle in the parking lot with a customer who followed him out of the casino. Officers later recovered about $4,300 in cash.

Skalsky escaped and fled into a wooded area west of Gateway West Mall as officers from the Kalispell Police Department, Flathead County Sheriff's Office and Montana Highway Patrol began searching the area. He was soon found lying in the grass near Ashley Creek.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com