The reader reported that the object was moving eastward, with a magnitude of +8.5 and with a speed judged by a 5 minute transit of his eyepiece field of view which was 0.88 degrees ( = 2 x pi x .88/360 = 0.0153 radians). The observer was located in Trinidad.
Well, the angular velocity of 0.88 degrees/5 minutes gives a full 'orbit' speed of 360 degrees in 2045 minutes. This is longer than the orbital speeds of communication satellites ( 1436 minutes) which are geosynchronous anyway and would not appear to move in the sky. If this is an orbital period, using Kepler's Third law, ( a^3 = T^2 ) its orbit distance would be (2045/1436)^2/3 = 1.26 x geosynchronous distance making it a research satellite or DoD satellite. However, most research satellites and DoD satellites are placed in Polar Orbit so that the entire surface of the Earth can be scanned.
Could it have been a high-flying plane? At an altitude of 36,000 feet, this angular velocity ( 12 x 0.0153 = 0.18 radians / hour ) corresponds to a relative ground speed of about 6,600 feet/hour or 1 mile/hour. This is not the speed of an aircraft...way too slow.
How about a bird carrying a flashlight...or illuminated by sunlight at high altitude? At an altitude of 2 miles the angular velocity corresponds to a speed of only 0.36 miles/hour which would be a bird suffering from hypoxia.
Could it have been an asteroid? They typically travel at 20 kilometers/sec or more by the time the reach the inner solar system. The distance to this asteroid from its angular velocity and maximum speed would have been 46,000 miles/hour / 0.18 radians/hour = 256,000 miles or the orbit of the Moon. At 8th magnitude, it would have been a small body. It would also have been tracked by NORAD. Most importantly, its orbit would have been in the ecliptic plane which does pass through the constellation Leo.
I think the chances are better that it was a satellite than an asteroid, although it's orbit is rather unusual. I cannot rule out that it was an asteroid, assuming that the estimates for the field size and transit times are valid. It would be a very rare and exciting event to see, but what troubles me is the brightness of the object ( asteroids are usually +10m or fainter except for the big ones like Ceres and Vesta, but they are in the asteroid belt and do NOT move as fast as the object seen!). The brightness is plausible for an artificial satellite, but not an asteroid.