Mystery surrounds Russian man accused of stealing $2M yacht in Martin County

MARTIN COUNTY Florida WPBF After a Russian national was identified as the suspect in a circumstance involving a stolen yacht executives are still trying to figure out who exactly the man is Nikolai Vilkov a Russian national was arrested Monday after leading investigators with Martin County Sheriff s Office and several other agencies on a chase in a two-million-dollar stolen yacht Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek held a press conference Tuesday where he offered an update on the episode which he s since called bizarre Budensiek validated Vilkov is also accused of stealing a tow boat just hours before the yacht was stolen Timeline of Events Vilkov is seen parking his Tesla in a no-parking zone at Lucky Shuck restaurant in Jupiter at a m Monday Vilkov is then seen wandering around by the boats parked near the bar around a m A tow boat from TowBoatUS Palm Beach is seen heading north at a m The tow boat gets stuck on a sandbar near the Jupiter Inlet and Vilkov takes off Vilkov is uncovered walking along US Jupiter police make contact with Vilkov and begin scrutinizing but could not connect him to the stolen tow boat at that time Police have no released sightings or information on Vilkov from a m to p m At around p m Vilkov is spotted talking with people at Tiki Bar Grill near Blowing Rocks Marina Witness record seeing Vilkov getting on and off the yacht from p m to p m Dockmaster at Blowing Rocks Marina calls at p m to document a stolen yacht and the suspect heading north Suspect leads personnel on boat chase Budensiek commented they began studying and made contact with the owner who substantiated the boat should not have left the dock From there the MCSO Florida Fish Wildlife and the Jupiter Island Police Department deployed multiple boats and began to chase the yacht They locked onto the boat realized that they were at extreme tactical disadvantage We re talking about a three-story yacht -foot and our vessels with one or two marine officers were not suited to safely take those individuals into custody Budensiek revealed Administrators had the Hobe Sound bridge shut down in an attempt to prevent Vilkov from getting through However Budensiek revealed they had to open it when Vilkov got closer to hitting it They continued to chase Vilkov until Budensiek stated it appeared he was no longer able to maneuver the yacht They came up with a plan of beaching the suspect vessel the stolen vessel which they did and that consisted of multiple boats smaller boats powering heavily against the side of the stolen vessel and pushing it into the mangroves where it was disabled Budensiek declared Once stopped SWAT operators came from the bridge and from local docks with tear gas and breaching rounds to make their way to where the vessel was pinned down Budensiek revealed they began making announcements to get Vilkov to come out but he did not respond Gas was deployed and he eventually did come out and work his way to the front deck where SWAT operators took him into custody he reported Suspect is questioned Vilkov was brought to the MCSO where Budensiek stated he claimed to only speak a small bit of English We do know that he interacted with Jupiter police earlier in the day We know he interacted with people in the docks so we don t really believe him in that regard he revealed However they called the Department of Homeland Guard which provided a translator to communicate with Vilkov in Russian During the interview our suspect was caught in a multitude of lies He in our opinion tried to fame that he was insane for a bit and then he could answer questions that were more complex Budensiek declared Since Vilkov wasn t cooperating Budensiek noted they haven t been able to pin down a motive for why he would steal the two boats We have worked together with the FBI and HSI to try to piece together his life he stated Who is Nikolai Vilkov The MCSO has been able to piece together a portion of a timeline to better understand who Vilkov is and how he got to the United States In November of Vilkov and his family flew from Turkey to Mexico On December th of they made their way to the Mexican-Texas dividing line where he his wife and child were granted asylum and allowed to enter the United States MCSO has not been able to find much more about Vilkov from to Vilkov has a driver s license that shows that he s from Charlotte North Carolina On April his wife and child flew back to Russia from the United States When questioned why he was in Martin County or where he was staying Budensiek mentioned Vilkov claimed to be sleeping in his car but did not say why he came to South Florida Budensiek reported Vilkov also admitted to sleeping on the Yacht Budensiek commented Vilkov did not have a phone or any electronic device with him on the yacht but did have a change of clothes As for a criminal record Budensiek explained they haven t unveiled any priors for Vilkov in the United States but they can t be sure he hasn t committed crimes elsewhere This does highlight a challenge that we ve seen with immigration illegal immigration specifically We don t know what he did in Russia We know he established up on the Mexican margin he was a lot into our country but we have no idea what his criminal history is overseas So we could be dealing with a real bad guy or not but we re just not sure Budensiek reported The sheriff commented he s still trying to figure out how Vilkov had the knowledge to operate a -foot yacht We want to know where you came from why you stole the vessel where were you going with the vessel what were you going to do with the vessel and those questions did not get answered properly Budensiek revealed A viable motive Budensiek disclosed while Vilkov didn t say why he did confess to stealing the boat Since he hasn t disclosed a motive the sheriff declared he s been left to theorize We have a lot of theories and this is a theory only but what we see here in South Florida is smuggling ventures We know right now that the Texas dividing line is locked down tight the Mexican perimeter is locked down tight and we are expecting an influx of immigrant landings here in Florida he stated Because of that he feels it s feasible Vilkov was involved in smuggling A theory not necessarily a true theory but a theory is this vessel was being stolen and moved to the Bahamas for a smuggling venture but we have not been able to verify that Budensiek explained Since Vilkov was seen heading north Budensiek noted it s workable he was going to the St Lucie Inlet Our fear was he was headed up to the St Lucie Inlet and going over to the Bahamas which we have seen as far as stolen vessels go he added Vilkov is being held without bond on charges of grand theft of a motor car aggravated fleeing and eluding and resisting arrest without violence Budensiek explained he expects more charges to follow He will be charged with the boat theft from earlier in that day from down in Jupiter So Jupiter Police Department s been up there They ve gotten their information They re going to be filing for a warrant for his arrest he declared An immigration detainer has also been put in place for Vilkov who will be sent back to Russia when his sentence in Martin County in completed Budensiek revealed this event highlights a dilemma they ve known existed but feel could be becoming more and more common We know we re on a demarcation We know we ve had Russians come in here before Chinese the list goes on and on so we re aware of that and we re concerned about that So it s our job as we see pressure start to build on the Mexican edge to pay attention over here which we ve done he explained Budensiek noted the MCSO has had their deputies certified on a federal level Tactically we ve got to go back to the drawing boards and make sure we re in a position where we can mitigate these kinds of situations We did a good job the preceding day and we re thankful no one was hurt but that could have been a lot worse he announced He s now asking anyone who recognizes Vilkov or who has had contact with him to please come forward We are in fact coming to you all If anyone here in our area knows about this individual knows of any other boat thefts that are unique if you know anything about him please reach out to us Our detective bureau will do a thorough inquiry to try to track down who he is and what he was all about he added