One of two Lakewood men accused of plotting to kill a Texas hold 'em operator laid his cards on the table Monday.

Christopher Steelman, 34, said he is innocent and even warned the alleged target of the plot.

Steelman and Herbert Paul Beck, 56, are suspects in a plot worthy of a TV Western, spiced with a business deal gone south, a plan to mask the murder by using rattlesnakes and a victim with a saddlebag full of his own legal problems, authorities say.

Steelman gave an interview by phone from the Jefferson County jail, where he is being held on suspicion of extortion, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

Beck is in jail in Raton, N.M.

Authorities say the two conspired to kill Matthew Sowash, of Wheat Ridge. They allegedly planned to put him in a wooden box with rattlesnakes then dump his body on a hiking trail to make it look like an accident.

Beck claimed that Sowash owed him $60,000, police said.

Steelman, a private investigator, said Monday he didn't think Beck was serious about the plans and that when he realized Beck wasn't kidding, he alerted Sowash.

Steelman gave this account:

A car dealership hired him to repossess a truck from Sowash, who operates poker games in Denver- area bars through his Amateur Poker Tour business.

When Steelman went to Sowash about the truck, Sowash told him to take it up with Beck because Beck was financially responsible for the vehicle.

Beck told Steelman to repossess the truck then hired him to find out more about Sowash.

Steelman said Beck mentioned that he had invested in Sowash's business and that Sowash owed him $60,000. At first, Steelman said, he thought Beck was just "mad and upset" over the debt.

But Beck later outlined a plan that would have Steelman build a wooden box that would hold rattlesnakes and put Sowash in it so he would be bitten.

Beck also talked about tampering with Sowash's vehicle so it would crash and about kidnapping Sowash's children to use them as leverage to get Sowash to pay his debt, Steelman said.

He also talked about taking out an insurance policy on Sowash's life, Steelman said.

Steelman said he went to Sowash near the end of June and told him of the alleged plot. Sowash, in turn, went to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which has been investigating his firm for possible securities fraud, according to arrest affidavits.

Sowash did not return phone calls to his business Monday.

Steelman, the father of two young sons, said he has learned a lesson.

"Be careful of who you talk to. Be careful of who you deal with. I've learned that the hard way," he said.

As tough as things are for him now, Steelman said if he had to do it over again, he would still alert Sowash.

"Nobody deserves that," he said of the alleged plot.

Steelman is to be charged today.

Beck appeared in court Monday in Raton and waived extradition to Colorado.

Meanwhile, the CBI is continuing its investigation of Sowash's poker business.

"We are pursuing the investigation," said Lance Clem, a CBI spokesman. "It goes beyond the two individuals already under arrest."

The Raton Range contributed to this report.

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