Trial In Bungled Extortion Delayed

A May 23 jury trial will be delayed for two men accused of taking eight people hostage last summer in downtown Pocatello as part of a bungled extortion plot.

Mark McGrath and Steve Atcheson, both 35, pleaded innocent before U.S. Magistrate Mikel Williams on Thursday to charges in a new 15-count federal indictment. They include counts of robbery and extortion, using firearms in commission of a felony and transporting firearms against state lines.

Six counts of wire fraud included in an earlier indictment were dropped, but a new charge of crossing state lines to commit a violent act was added.