Man Accused Of Extortion Plot Pleads Innocent

A Utah man accused of taking part in a bungled extortion plot in Pocatello last summer has pleaded innocent before a federal magistrate.

Steve Atcheson, 35, appeared before Magistrate Mikel Williams Monday afternoon. The judge scheduled a full detention hearing for Thursday afternoon. Atcheson will be held for a trial scheduled May 15 in Pocatello.

Atcheson is named in a grand jury indictment on a charge of conspiring with Mark McGrath, 35, to hold Pocatello-area business people hostage last July 29. They are accused of planning to extort money using automatic teller machines.

They lured several victims with a story of soliciting bids for remodeling a building. But the plot fell apart when one victim escaped after he crashed his car at a construction site as he was being driven to the bank.