A Florida felon arrested while allegedly driving a missing Lyft driver’s car in North Carolina has been indicted in the shooting death of another man and was scheduled for an extradition hearing Wednesday, according to authorities.
Matthew Scott Flores, a 35-year-old with a history of stealing cars and drug possession, is accused in the Jan. 24 shooting death of Jose Martinez in Wauchula six days before Palm Beach Gardens Lyft driver Gary Levin went missing.
He was indicted on charges of first-degree homicide, grand theft motor vehicle, felon in possession of a firearm and evidence tampering in Hardee County, Florida, Tuesday, Wauchula Police Chief John Eason told Fox News Digital.
Authorities in Rutherford County, North Carolina, arrested him on Feb. 2 after they say he led law enforcement on a high-speed chase through three counties before crashing a stolen car.
FLORIDA MURDER SUSPECT ARRESTED IN MISSING LYFT DRIVER’S CAR AFTER NORTH CAROLINA POLICE CHASE
ELDERLY FLORIDA LYFT DRIVER, PREVIOUSLY REPORTED MISSING, CONFIRMED DEAD
The car belonged to Levin, who vanished on Jan. 30. Authorities found his body in Okeechobee on Feb. 4, near where his phone last pinged.
His car was last spotted in Florida in Gainesville on Feb. 1, roughly 500 miles from Rutherford, where deputies arrested Flores in the vehicle.
Prosecutors there have charged Flores with fleeing arrest and driving while impaired, in addition to being a fugitive from justice on the Florida charges.
He was being held on $2 million bond and due in court for a hearing Wednesday.
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He has numerous other felony convictions in both Florida and North Carolina, records show.
According to the Asheville-based WLOS-TV, Flores’ criminal past includes at least two other attempts to flee officers.
On Oct. 1, 2020, he rammed a Hendersonville officer with a vehicle and struck a police cruiser before fleeing into Polk County, according to the outlet. Police there stopped him with spike strips, and he fled on foot until a K-9 took him down.
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