Intended Victim Of Rattlesnake Plot Credits CBS4 With Turning Life Around
DACONO, Colo. (CBS4) - A decade ago CBS4 reported on a bizarre plot to have a rattlesnake kill a man and have his body be dumped on a trail.
Matt Sowash was to be the intended victim.
CBS4 investigator Rick Sallinger tried to catch up with him 10 years ago as he ran the Amateur Poker Tour. That attempt was unsuccessful, but not only did Sallinger find him now, but Sowash thanked him for his reports and credited to him with helping turn his life around.
"Did I really help save your life?" Sallinger asked.
"Well you were a part of the events that were in my life at that point in time," Sowash said.
Not only is Sowash still alive, he says he is a very different man.
Back then he sold shares in the poker operation that was in as many as 30 area bars on one night. The trouble was, he had no securities license and went to prison.
"I often tell people prison is the best thing that happened to me. They think I'm crazy." he said.
Sowash insists he left behind the life that got him in trouble.
Back then, Christopher Steelman told Sallinger he was solicited to kill Sowash.
"I was a repo man and he's asking me to kill this guy," he said from behind bars in 2007.
Now Sowash says has traded poker for Jesus. He does a reality TV show on the Christian Lifestyle Network called "Racing for Glory." It airs Wednesdays in 20 markets. In Denver it is on channel 39.2 at 9:30.
"God said that's where I want you and I want you into that arena," Sowash said as he walked around the track at Colorado National Speedway.
He drives stock cars and is an evangelist to the teams. His organization also hands out lunch bags for the homeless. He is building an old school bus that is to distribute food for the poor.
Sowash acknowledges some might be skeptical, but says he is now a man of God.
