BUNNELL, Fla. — Deputies in northeast Florida arrested a man who has been charged with 70 felonies since 2004, accusing him of orchestrating a multi-state crime spree.
Stephen Antwon Johnson, 36, of Fort Lauderdale, was arrested Friday and charged with unlawful possession of personal identification information, three counts of petit theft, one count of violation of community control and having an attached license tag that was not assigned, according to Flagler County Sheriff’s Office online booking records.
Flagler County sheriff’s deputies stopped Johnson while he was driving southbound on Interstate 95, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. Deputies said Johnson was stopped for impeding the flow of traffic on the interstate.
A deputy noticed that the South Carolina license plate attached to the 2022 silver Kia did not match the car, WFLA-TV reported.
According to body camera video, Johnson provided deputies with a rental agreement, but the tag was discovered to belong to a 2007 Saturn Outlook from Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, the sheriff’s office said. The South Carolina tag was attached to a Florida license plate with double-sided tape, deputies said. It was later confirmed that the tag was stolen from Beaufort, South Carolina.
Johnson was arrested without incident, and a search of the Kia revealed a purse with identifying documents for a Clay County resident who confirmed she was a victim of a car burglary on July 8, the sheriff’s office said. Deputies also found two laptops and four cellphones. One of the computers appeared to be owned by a health care company, and deputies found a green notebook that had multiple usernames and passwords for medical credentials.
Johnson allegedly told deputies he bought the laptops online, but deputies later confirmed it belonged to a health care company, the sheriff’s office said.
According to the sheriff’s office, Johnson had been charged with 70 felonies before his arrest last week. He was convicted 31 times and charged with 15 misdemeanors.
“This dirtbag made the mistake of driving through Flagler County after committing crimes in South Carolina and Clay County, Florida,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement. “Fortunately an eagle-eye deputy brought his crime spree to a halt before he could prey on our community. ”(It is) time for him to go away to prison so he can no longer prey on people. I’m proud of the deputy who was patrolling our roadways that led to putting this felon back behind bars where he belongs.”
©2022 Cox Media Group
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/WQ27IEQX4ZCSHHOV5SDI3RPS5I.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/JTVU2V6QZJDPJOFRLIAS3424MY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/ZRBUBVWFNJFXJP6ZQG2ANEROVE.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/GRZGPKEIUVHVFAVEGSOJSRA6JQ.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/QVQVRKHUPFAABK2NHZ4HPVVB6Q.jpeg)