MANASOTA KEY, Fla. (WWSB) – A Charlotte County man has been arrested for after he was spotted in a vacant Manasota Key home, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said.
On Jan. 30, the owner of a home on Shore View Dive on Manasota Key reported a burglary. Neighbors had reported seeing a man not authorized to be in the house was seen on the second-floor balcony smoking something from a can.
A realtor working with the homeowner approached the man to ask if he was staying in the home. He said no, and quickly left, leaving clothes, food and other items behind.
Deputies search the home and found personal items including documents and a Social Security card with the subject’s name — Artem Korzhuk — on them.
Surveillance video from a neighbor’s property showed a man matching the subjects description backing a truck into the victim’s driveway and going trough the victim’s property to go to the beach.
On Jan. 31, deputies received a tip that Korzhuk was aboard a sailboat in Charlotte Harbor. Deputies found Korzhuk on the sailboat, and he agreed to come to shore, where he was arrested.
Deputies learned Korzhuk was also wanted for abandoning a derelict vessel. Deputies had been trying to contact him after his 24-foot sailboat ran aground on the Peace River in January.
In addition to charges of burglary of an unoccupied dwelling and second-degree petit theft, Korzhuk was also charged with abandoning a derelict vessel
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