Man Tied to Lyft Driver Slaying Charged in Separate Case

A man who police say was driving the car of a dead South Florida Lyft driver with ties to Philadelphia was charged with murder and other counts Tuesday in a separate case.

A grand jury in Hardee County indicted Matthew Flores, 35, on charges of first-degree murder, grand theft auto, possession of a firearm by a felon and tampering with evidence, according to court records.

The indictment relates to the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of 43-year-old Jose Carlos Martinez in Wauchula. Police were actively searching for Flores in that case by Jan. 30, when Lyft driver Gary Levin, 74, went missing after dropping off a customer in Okeechobee, a small city north of Florida’s Lake Okeechobee and about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east of Wauchula.

Levin’s red 2022 Kia Stinger was spotted in Miami, Okeechobee and Gainesville in north Florida after his disappearance. The vehicle was stopped Feb. 2 in North Carolina, where a U.S. Marshals regional task force asked authorities to be on the lookout. Flores, who was driving the car, was arrested following a police chase through three counties, officials said. A dead body found in Okeechobee after Levin went missing was eventually identified as the driver.

Flores was being held in North Carolina on a $2 million bond with a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. He will eventually be returned to Florida. It was not known whether Flores had a lawyer who can speak on his behalf.

Levin had been living in Palm Beach Gardens in Florida, but, NBC10 has learned that he was a lifelong resident of Philadelphia who had only moved to the Sunshine State a couple of years ago.

Levin grew up along McKinley Street in Mayfair. Later, he moved to Richboro in Bucks County where he raised his family and ran a business called, Gary Levin Wholesale.

Levin's son, John, told NBC10 their family tradition was following the Eagles. He said he talked to his father just last weekend about how much they were looking forward to watching the Super Bowl.

Levin's daughter, Lindsay DiBetta, said the Lyft gig was great for her father, who loved telling dad jokes and often told them over and over. “It was the perfect set up for him. He would get a new audience every ride,” she said.

She said her father was an auto body salesman before retiring to Florida, and that his car “was his baby.”