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A Russian man who was given asylum in the U.S. led police in Florida on a dramatic marine chase for over an hour, after stealing a luxury yacht worth $2.5 million.
Nikolai Vilkov, who is 29 and has a North Carolina address, boarded the 68-foot vessel on Monday afternoon, before attempting the daring escape from the marina.
Officers from Martin County ground and marine units were forced to ram the yacht into nearby mangroves in order to ground it. Vilkov refused to surrender when deputies boarded the vessel, and tear gas was used to force him to come out.
He was subsequently charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing and eluding, as well as resisting arrest without violence.
Despite having had previous interactions with law enforcement, Vilkov claimed he did not speak English, resulting in a Russian interpreter being brought by the Department of Homeland Security to assist with the investigation.
According to police, Vilkov was also suspected of stealing a smaller boat in Jupiter, about three miles from where he was picked up. Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek described the incident as “bizarre.”
Budensiek told reporters that Vilkov had arrived at the Lucky Shuck restaurant in Jupiter just after 1 a.m. on Monday, and parked his Tesla in a valet area.
Surveillance footage then showed him wandering in the area behind other nearby restaurants, where multiple boats are docked and stored. Shortly after 2 a.m. a TowBoat US boat's GPS came online, saying it was moving, heading north, then east before becoming stuck on a sandbar near the Jupiter Inlet.
Vilkov was met by officers shortly after 3.a.m but was not connected to the theft of the towboat.
After making his way to the Blowing Rocks Marina he reportedly spent a night sleeping on a boat that was docked there, even using a towel hanging inside – though his exact whereabouts were not confirmed.
However, just before 4 p.m., police were informed by the dockmaster that the yacht had been stolen. The resulting chase, which involved Martin County Sheriff’s Office, Jupiter Island police and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lasted for about an hour and a half.
Budensiek said that the yacht had been grounded after “multiple smaller boats powering heavily against the side of the stolen boat, pushing it into the mangroves.”
“We couldn’t just let that vessel careen through our county and endanger people,” he said, adding that the yacht had sustained a "significant amount" of damage in the incident.
A theory for the motive is that the vessel was being moved to the Bahamas for smuggling purposes, but this has not yet been verified.
The sheriff added that it was unclear how Vilkov made it to Florida, but that he had arrived in Mexico in 2022, and been granted asylum through the Mexico-Texas border that December.
"He has an ICE detainer on him, and the next time he steals a vessel...it'll be back in Russia, not here in the United States," Budensiek said. "When he serves his time here, he'll be deported out of our country."
Vilkov is currently being held without bond at the Martin County jail.
English (US) ·