What were the charges against Lieutenant Dan? Criminal record and rumors of sexual assault explored

Joseph Malinowski, better known as "Lieutenant Dan," is going viral again after refusing to leave his boat in Tampa Bay as Hurricane Milton battered Florida. The storm had been called deadly by experts, with Residents in and around Tampa as well as other affected areas being told to evacuate.

However, Lieutenant Dan — who spends his days on his boat off the coast in Florida, stood his ground and refused to move — just as he had last month (September 2024) when Hurricane Helene hit the area.

With clips of him giving TikTok interviews going viral and popular Kick streamer Adin Ross offering him a $100,000 streaming deal, the individual's past has become a hot topic of discussion on social media. After he went viral, rumors claiming he had sexually assaulted women started surfacing.

Lieutenant Dan has reportedly been arrested multiple times in the states of Florida and North Carolina, and now, his mugshots have gone viral on the internet. With a criminal record stretching back to around 2006, he has been charged with drug possession, battery against a law enforcement officer, trespassing, and more. It's also worth noting a vast majority of the charges have to do with his boat.

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Exploring Lieutenant Dan's criminal history: Separating facts from rumors

After the mugshots of Lieutenant Dan went viral, many social media posts claiming he had been accused of pedophilia and sexual assault were circulated on social media. However, it appears that the people making those allegations confused him for another man who shares his last and middle name.

The pedophilia and sex crime charges were actually levied against a person named John Malinowski, who was found guilty in 2006 and is unrelated to Joseph Malinowski, who is called Lieutenant Dan due to his leg amputation and is a reference to a character from Forrest Gump.

While Lieutenant Dan's criminal record doesn't include child abuse and assault charges against women, it is not spotless by any means. As per an official arrest report from 2021, he allegedly punched a cop after the police were called on him for not leaving a bar in Lake Worth Beach. As a result, he was convicted and jailed for a year.

In February 2023, Lieutenant Dan was accused of throwing gasoline at a woman in the same area (Lake Worth Beach). Reportedly, she had been in an argument with him, so he lit a fire beside the concrete bench she was sitting on. Subsequently, he allegedly used the gasoline on her to set her on fire.

The woman called 911, and Lieutenant Dan was arrested for aggravated battery. However, the New York Post reports that the charges against him were dropped in a month without explanation.

The long list of criminal charges against Joseph Malinowski came into the limelight after TikTok creator Terrence Concannon set up a GoFundMe page to help the sailor survive Hurricane Milton. The page has raised over $40,000, and it appears Concannon was unaware of his criminal past.