MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — A Russian national is in custody after a luxury yacht was stolen Monday from a marina in Martin County, prompting a chase that lasted more than an hour on the Intracoastal Waterway.
At about 4 p.m. Monday, the Martin County Sheriff's Office said the 68-foot, three-story vessel was stolen from Blowing Rocks Marina near Tequesta.
WATCH BELOW: Suspect arrested after yacht stolen in Martin Co.
Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said a dockmaster spotted the theft of the yacht, and law enforcement was contacted.
The sheriff said their marine units, Jupiter Island police and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began to assemble a plan to stop the boat, which included shutting the Hobe Sound and Cato's bridges to trap the boat in the Intracoastal Waterway.
Budensiek said the yacht traveled north on the Intracoastal, traveling about a mile from the Hobe Sound Bridge, where it ran aground temporarily and later got to the bridge, where it stopped.
At that location, they believed the yacht was in a good position "to do a takedown" with the other agencies. They said they did repeated announcements to get the boat operator's attention, but there was "no compliance."
WATCH BELOW: Martin County sheriff describes how they pursued, stopped stolen yacht
"Shortly after that, the boat moved forward and started nudging against the catwalk that's below the Hobe Sound Bridge," Budensiek said.
The sheriff said it became apparent that the yacht's operator may try to push under the bridge.
With law enforcement on the opposite side of the bridge and a helicopter overhead, they decided to open the bridge and allowed the yacht to travel just north of the bridge. It was there that three marine deputies "did some tactical maneuvering and shoved that vessel up into the mangroves" to ground it.
After the vessel was stopped, Budensiek said the operator continued to not comply and remained in the glass wheelhouse. The final deployed gas into the boat, prompting the operator to come out and surrender on the bow.
WATCH BELOW: MCSO HEADS OUT TO LOCATE SUSPECT
The suspect was later identified as Nikolai Vilkov, 29, who claimed not to speak English, so the Department of Homeland Security was en route Monday to the sheriff's office with a Russian interpreter to translate.
The sheriff's office said the chase lasted about an hour and a half.
Budensiek said the yacht sustained a "significant amount" of damage after it was temporarily grounded on a sandbar and also after deputies pushed it into the mangroves.
WATCH VIDEO OF MCSO SURROUNDING VESSEL:
Investigators were still attempting to figure out "where he came from, what he was doing and what he was planning to do with the vessel."
"He clearly didn't know how to operate that boat to its ability, or we would have been chasing him probably eastbound in the Atlantic Ocean," the sheriff said.
Budensiek said he believes Vilkov likely was attempting to escape to the Bahamas, so they also contacted the Coast Guard, federal Air and Marine Operations and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office for backup if their help was needed.
"We were determined not to let him get past the north end of the Hobe Sound Bridge," Budensiek said.
The sheriff said a separate boat was stolen in Jupiter on Sunday night, which got "hung up" in the Jupiter Inlet, and "there may be a connection" to Monday's yacht theft.
