Bizarre moment Russian man steals huge YACHT and tries to flee from Florida cops down waterway
A Russian national stole a 66-foot luxury yacht and fled through Florida waters in a chaotic attempt to evade arrest, police said.
Nikolai Vilka reportedly hijacked a yacht from the Blowing Rocks Marina in Tequesta on Monday after 5:30pm.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) probed the area, quickly spotting the vessel cruising through the Intracoastal Waterway in the Hobe Sound area.
Law enforcement leaped into action - with the MCSO sharing a video of the moment authorities urgently moved their search efforts into the water and sailed off towards the yacht.
Follow-up footage posted just minutes later showed the stolen vessel surrounded by police boats, staffed with various agencies, ready to catch the culprit.
Police swarmed the yacht, located Vilka, and took him back to shore in handcuffs.
Photos from the bizarre ordeal show the suspect with his head down and legs crossed as he sat on the floor of the patrol boat.
Vilka claimed he cannot speak English, so the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent an interpreter to aid the MCSO's investigation.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the sheriff's office about what charges Vilka faces. A spokesperson responded, saying more information will be released this afternoon.
It is unclear what prompted Vilka to allegedly attempt the daylight robbery of the large yacht.
'Lol this is so funny to me. What was he thinking?! What did he plan to do with a multi-million dollar stolen luxury yacht,' one Floridian wrote on Facebook.
Another asked: 'He really thought he could get away with that?'
Thousands of other commenters on the MSCO's post shared baffled reactions to Vilka's arrest, many wondering what his exit strategy.
Others praised police efforts to swiftly de-escalate the situation and return the yacht to its rightful owner.
The exact type of boat that was stolen is unclear, but yachts between 50 and 70 feet long tend to go from anywhere from $2 million to $6 million, Galati Yacht Sales reported.
Vilka is not the only man who has gone to great length to escape police in Florida waters.
Last May, a boat-thief disguised himself as a woman in a hilarious wig and dress to evade cops after an alleged boat theft.
Joshua Kolotka, 33, was spotted leaving a house dressed as woman while deputies were investigating a theft in Lakeport last Wednesday, according to the Glade County Sheriff's Office.
The 33-year-old man is seen sporting a white cardigan on top of a blue patterned midi dress, sunglasses, and a hilarious blonde short wig in a photo shared by the sheriff's office.
The investigation stemmed from a recovered stolen boat located at the Old Caloosa Lodge in Lakeport.
But when deputies started canvassing the area in search for the suspect, described as a 33-year-old white male, they stumbled upon a peculiar scene.
'They observed Joshua Kolotka exiting a residence dressed as a woman in an attempt to disguise himself,' the sheriff's office wrote in a release.
He was arrested for two Okeechobee County warrants, along with the theft of a John Deere Gator and the stolen boat.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Ottawa ‘urgently seeking more information' about death of Canadian citizen in Ice custody
Authorities in Canada are seeking information about the death of a 49-year-old Canadian man who died while in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) custody in Florida this week. In a statement, Ice, part of the Department of Homeland Security, said Johnny Noviello, 49, died on 23 June after being found unresponsive at a federal detention center in Miami, where he was being detained 'pending removal proceedings' from the US. 'Medical staff responded immediately and began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation, automated external defibrillator shock and called 911,' Ice stated. Noviello, who first entered the US in 1988 with a legal visa status and became a permanent resident (green card holder) three years later, was taken into Ice custody on 15 May. He was convicted of multiple drug charges, including racketeering and drug trafficking in Volusia county, Florida, and sentenced to 12 months in prison in 2023. On May 15, he was arrested by Ice and deemed removable from the US because of the controlled substance convictions, the statement said. Canada's foreign minister, Anita Anand, posted on X that the Canadian authorities had been notified of Noviello's death while in custody in the US and Canadian consular officials 'are urgently seeking more information from US officials'. Noviello is the ninth person to die in Ice custody this year, and the fourth to die in a Florida facility, according to the Miami Herald. 'Ice remains committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure and humane environments,' the agency said in its statement, adding that 'at no time during detention is a detained illegal alien denied emergent care'. The federal government can revoke green cards and deport their holders for committing certain crimes, including drug trafficking and other serious felonies. Daniel Leising, a lawyer who represented Noviello in the 2023 racketeering case involving selling opioids – oxycodone, hydromorphine and hydrocodone – in Daytona Beach, said his client 'was just working, nothing out of the ordinary, no violations, nothing else. There was nothing on my mind that would've created any circumstance where Johnny Noviello would have been a danger to anyone.' Leising told the outlet that Noviello's family said he had epilepsy and was on seizure medication and they had worked 'painstakingly to make sure that he got his meds'.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Blaise Metreweli: MI6 distances new chief from Nazi grandfather
MI6 has cast distance between its new chief and her grandfather, who was this week revealed to have been a Nazi spy known as "the butcher".Blaise Metreweli was announced as the incoming head of the Secret Intelligence Service earlier this month. She will be its first female "C" in its 116-year little known about her wider backstory, several newspapers reported on Friday that her grandfather was Constantine Dobrowolski, who defected from Soviet Russia's Red Army to become the Nazis' chief informant in Chernihiv, the Foreign Office, which speaks on behalf of MI6, said Ms Metreweli "neither knew nor met her paternal grandfather". A spokesperson added: "Blaise's ancestry is characterised by conflict and division and, as is the case for many with eastern European heritage, only partially understood."It is precisely this complex heritage which has contributed to her commitment to prevent conflict and protect the British public from modern threats from today's hostile states, as the next chief of MI6."The Daily Mail, which first revealed the family link, reports that it found hundreds of pages of documents in an archive in Freiburg, Germany, which showed Mr Dobrowolski was known as "The Butcher" or "Agent No 30" by Wehrmacht reportedly signed off letters to his Nazi superiors with "Heil Hitler" and said he "personally" took part in "the extermination of the Jews".The archive documents are said to suggest Mr Dobrowolski looted the bodies of Holocaust victims, was involved in the murdering of local Jews, and laughed while watching the sexual assault of female the war, Mr Dobrowolski's wife, Barbara, and two-month-old son fled to Britain, and she married David Metreweli in 1947. Her son took his stepfather's name, but the Mail reports that on some official documents his surname was still Dobrowolski's son would go on to be a radiologist and UK armed forces veteran, and his daughter, Ms Metreweli, was born in 1977. She has not responded to the recent reports joined MI6 - which gathers intelligence overseas - in 1999, and is currently responsible for technology and innovation there. She will be the agency's 18th head when she takes over later this year from Sir Richard Moore, a senior civil servant. Upon her appointment, she said in a statement that she was "proud and honoured" to have been asked to Metreweli is a Cambridge graduate, a rower and has previously had operational roles in the Middle East and Europe.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Man arrested in crackdown on masked Stoke-on-Trent bike gangs
A man has been arrested as part of a police crackdown on masked bike gangs causing anti-social behaviour and stealing followed a moped being ridden by two people wearing balaclavas on Clarence Road, Stoke-on-Trent, on Thursday, and the rider was stopped after a foot chase, Staffordshire Police moped was believed to have been stolen from the Middleport area, the force said, and an angle-grinder was found under the 18-year-old man from Stoke-on-Trent was arrested on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle, going equipped for theft of a motor vehicle and driving without a licence and insurance. It came after Staffordshire Police received reports of incidents of theft and anti-social behaviour in the city, involving suspects described as white men with balaclavas, dark tracksuits and riding Sur-Ron electric were spotted on Parliament Row in Hanley at about 21:00 BST on Friday after robbing a driver of his food delivery, police were also seen trying to steal a motorbike on nearby Cheapside before fleeing, while a motorbike was also reported stolen.A police spokesperson said officers were reviewing CCTV footage and were urging anyone with information to get in Rebecca Price said: "We will continue to do all we can to disrupt those who blight our communities with this criminality." Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
