MARCO ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — Police say a man stole and crashed a boat off southwest Florida that belongs to the Minnesota dentist who had killed Cecil the lion while hunting in Africa.
A police report says Andrew Derwin, 26, of Marco Island was arrested Tuesday, July 19, on a felony charge of grand theft and remains held. Authorities say Derwin took Walter Palmer’s $61,175 boat from his vacation home Sunday and later crashed it. Derwin’s passenger, Nicolas Stolinas, was seriously injured, officials say.
The report says detectives contacted Palmer, who lives fulltime in Minnesota, and he told them Derwin lives near his vacation home but didn’t have permission to use the boat.
Records didn’t indicate whether Derwin has a lawyer.
Palmer caused an international furor after he killed the lion in July 2015 in Zimbabwe.
