‘Crystal meth’: Lieutenant Dan’s horror spiral as ugly feud with
A one-legged sailor who became a viral sensation after braving a hurricane in his boat has hit a new low - filming a series of truly disturbing rants online.
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‘Lieutenant Dan’ became an overnight sensation after refusing to leave his run-down sailboat as a hurricane ripped through the Florida bay he was anchored in.
Kind-hearted strangers donated $46,000 to the one-legged sailor and a popular internet streamer vowed to buy him a brand new boat and offered him a lucrative internet deal.
Things took a turn for worse when he was unmasked as Joseph Malinowski – a career criminal who was jailed for bashing a cop and allegedly tried to set a woman alight.
The wheels have now completely fallen off, with the 54-year-old using a racist slur on a stream and later claiming “God told him” someone slipped crystal meth in his water bottle.
In the latest grim development, Malinowski has turned on Terrence Concannon, the Tampa Bay student who first filmed his plight and helped launch a GoFundMe for him.
‘He can kiss my ass’: Lieutenant Dan’s grim spiral
Lieutenant Dan has since teamed up with musician ‘Check The Star’, a heavily-tattooed rapper who starred in a music video with Aaron Carter days before his overdose death.
“He’s my right hand. I trust him with my life. I just met him yesterday, but I know him in my heart, I’ve known him my whole life,” he said in a recent clip of the pair together.
In a series of live-streamed clips shared last week, Malinowski accused Mr Concannon of withholding the fundraiser money from him.
“I’m not contacting Terrance – tell Terrence he can kiss my ass, he can stay the hell away from me. He’s out of the picture,” he said.
“I ain’t got nothing to apologise for – for what? For firing my manager? Isn’t that my right?.” he continued.
“Listen I am thankful but I don’t like Terrence, I don’t need Terrence. I’m not getting into this and giving more content, I’m done with it. Take your crap elsewhere.”
Mr Concannon took to his TikTok to clear the air, revealing he had no way of transferring the money to Malinowski because he had no government ID and was unable to access his bank account.
He said he had been sent “numerous death threats and thousands of hate messages.”
“When I first saw Joe and met him his boat was being swept under a bridge and I was walking home from school, I saw this guy who looked like he needed help,” he explained.
“I didn’t know his background or anything about him. People fell in love with Joe after a few videos and were begging me to make him a GoFundMe so that is what I did.”
He said the initial goal of the fundraiser was to raise $2,500 to get Malinowski a new boat and some money for food and transportation.
“It was never supposed to get to where it is now,” he added.
Mr Concannon later handed over $7,000 in cash to Malinowski from the fundraiser, and said he had reached out to Tampa Bay police in a bid to help the sailor get access to his banking.
“The rest of the money will be sent to Dan as soon as he gets his bank account information set. I’m sad to see where this has got to,” he added.
News.com.au has contacted GoFundMe and Tampa Bay police for comment.
Crystal meth ‘drugging’, racist slur and daughter’s fury
In one of the more bizarre live-stream sprays by Malinowski, he claimed someone had slipped crystal methamphetamine into his water bottle.
“Somebody drugged my water when I wasn’t on the boat with crystal meth – and I was chatting for five days all over the place and couldn’t understand why I couldn’t sleep,” he claimed.
“Finally the Holy Spirit and God told me ‘get rid of your freaking water’… I got rid of my water and I was fine.”
In another rant about Mr Concannon, he dropped a racist slur.
“If you want to get back into my good graces, you have to take time,” Malinowski mused Friday, adding, “‘Cos once I cut you off, you’re done n***a. I’m sorry.”
The disturbing tirades prompted Malinowski’s concerned daughter Ashley Ann to beg for help on TikTok, claiming the fame and money would put her father in an “early grave”.
“Lieutenant Dan was doing just fine without all that money,” she told viewers in one video.
“Y’all TikTok f***ing famous people, y’all blowing him up and he’s gonna be dead before he can f***ing enjoy that boat and stuff.
“Yes, I’m his f***ing daughter and I had to keep tabs on that man for 10 years trying to make sure that he is alive, and now he’s gonna get all of this and probably end up dead because of it.”
Streamer pulls pin on Kick deal
Internet personality Adin Ross made a life-changing offer to Malinowski after his tale of survival went viral on social media last week.
“I’m going to be able to pay for a boat for you. We’re going to get you a nice boat in the range of $50,000 to $100,000,” Ross told him.
“And we’re going to get you a full-time Kick deal, which is a livestream deal where you can stream your entire voyages and all your adventures and you can have a passive income come in.
“You can livestream and connect with fans all over the world, and they can really see your adventure, man.”
An ecstatic Malinowski thanked Ross for his generosity.
“You’re giving me my life back. I’m 54 years old, and I’ve never gotten to live yet,” he said.
“I was satisfied with my social security disability check every month. That kept me [able to get] food and other things I might have needed. I was content with that, but I was never happy with it. I was content to be able to survive like that, but you’re giving me the opportunity to live.”
In a swift reversal of fortune, that deal was taken off the table within hours when his criminal history started circulating online.
Ross later insisted he would still be helping Malinowski get a boat, but said the streaming deal would instead go to Terrence Concannon.
“I am no longer giving Lieutenant Dan a Kick deal, but I’m giving the deal to Terrence. Terrence is going to go around Tampa, IRL streaming, and help out homeless people and those in need.”
“We still want to help Lieutenant Dan, known as Joe, by giving him a boat... but we want to ensure he’s staying sober and doing it the right way.”
A dejected Malinowski lashed out at Ross on Thursday afternoon, questioning why the streamer made the offer only to take it away the next day.
“I went to prison, I did jail time, but point blank God to my soul… I’m innocent of all the charges,” Malinowski insisted to reporters gathered outside his docked boat.
“He (Adin Ross) starts (talking) about my (criminal) history … well you should have did that before you made that offer.
“If you were worried about your image … you should have done your due diligence and looked me up before you made me an offer of a $100,000 sign up bonus and a $100,000 boat.
“He came to me, I never went to him, he offered it to me and I never asked for it.”
Lieutenant Dan unmasked: Sickening criminal history exposed
Court records seen by news.com.au show that Malinowski, 54, was jailed in 2021 after punching a police officer in the face.
Police were called to an Irish pub in Lake Worth Beach, on Florida’s east coast, amid reports Malinowski was causing a scene and refusing to leave the venue.
When police arrived he was sitting at the bar with broken glass all around him “yelling and screaming”, according to an arrest report.
As a responding sheriff’s deputy tried to handcuff him and escort him out of the pub, Malinowski punched the officer in the face and ribs.
He pleaded not guilty and represented himself in court, but it took a jury less than a day to convict him of battery against a law enforcement officer and he was jailed for a year.
A more recent and disturbing incident came last February, when a woman reported she had gotten in argument with Malinowski at Lake Worth Beach, an hour outside of Miami.
During the argument, Malinowski allegedly approached the woman and poured gasoline on the bench directly next to where she was sitting and set it alight.
The argument continued to escalate, and the woman - who was smoking a cigarette at the time - said Malinowski then splashed her with gas in an attempt to light her on fire.
She called 911, fearing for her life, and grabbed Malinowski’s crutches to prevent him from using them as weapons or escaping before help could arrive, records allege.
Malinowski uses crutches to help him get around after his left leg was amputated above the knee following a scooter accident nearly 40 years ago.
He was arrested for aggravated battery with a deadly weapon but the case was dropped a month later for reasons that were not explained and could not be immediately determined.
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