A routine traffic stop in Florida helped cops crack a cold case. After identifying the co-passenger of the vehicle, police discovered he was wanted on a Pennsylvania homicide warrant. He had been on the run for 14 years.
He had reportedly been living under an alias and even deceived his companion, who police say had no idea she was riding with a fugitive man.
The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office stopped the vehicle in the early morning hours of February 20, near Harbor Boulevard and Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte. An officer initially asked the driver for her rental car agreement and IDs, which the woman provided. However, she was nervous, as she had been arrested for fraud in Lee County, Florida, and had cashed checks belonging to deceased people. Additionally, records revealed she had been a co-defendant from the 2024 arrest, according to the footage.
The passenger, however, was reluctant to cooperate. After a background check, the passenger was identified as Brian “Sonny” Hewson, 51, who had several outstanding felony warrants from Florida and Pennsylvania for homicide out of Monroe County.
The man was wanted in connection with the killing of Steven Lepore, who had disappeared in August 2012 after leaving his residence. Hewson had allegedly hidden his body in a metal barrel near a shed in the backyard of his mother’s home in Newfoundland. According to investigators, Hewson had asked Kip Morgan, 62, to shoot Lepore over a money dispute. While Morgan was arrested separately by U.S. Marshals in New York’s Brooklyn, Hewson was living on probation in Florida before disappearing without notice before the warrant was finalized. The well-planned murder triggered a lengthy investigation, ultimately issuing a homicide warrant for Hewson.
When officers asked the two to exit the car, Hewson resisted and pulled out his gun and threatened to shoot officers. Officers, however, subdued him using a taser and took him into custody for his crime.
The driver, who cooperated with officers, maintained she had no knowledge of Hewson’s criminal history or the warrants against him.
Officers searched the rented vehicle and recovered several fake law enforcement badges, cash, ammunition, and pills. They linked the evidence to a recent burglary in a casino.
With new charges, Hewson was jailed for aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and possession of drugs.
Disclaimer: The Inquisitr individually could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public video record.
