Wanted on the Waterways
Jan Kanafoski Makes His Mark as Bad Boy, Claims He’s on a DeFever 44
Kanafoski poses with the Coast Guard
crew that rescued him and his little dog
after his boat caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico.
Jan Kanafoski Makes His Mark as Bad Boy, Claims He’s on a DeFever 44
Kanafoski poses with the Coast Guard
crew that rescued him and his little dog
after his boat caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico.
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By PETER SWANSON
When a Florida prosecutor obtained an arrest warrant for Jan Kanafoski in October, a new chapter began in the antics of one of Florida’s bad boys on the water. Now, if you can believe Kanafoski’s boasting, he may be holed up on the waterway in a DeFever 44 trawler that he claims he owns or has access to. Assistant State Attorney Patrick Flanigan became annoyed when Kanafoski failed to show for a pretrial hearing. “I don't know that I, personally, would use the term ‘fugitive from justice’ to describe Kanafoski in these circumstances, but there is most definitely a capias for Kanafoski's arrest for failing to appear for court,” Flanigan said. Kanafoski, 39, is a Polish national who grew up in Georgia, and did time in Georgia prison for burglary and falsifying an ID. His current legal problems stem from his fraudulent purchase of an 85-foot research vessel in 2017. Kanafoski had purchased the boat in Georgia failed to pay off a lien against the boat. The seller had the sale rescinded and came to Key West to evict Kanafoski and retake the vessel, named R/V Ocean Endeavor. During the eviction Kanafoski vandalized the boat’s fuel system, according to Monroe County sheriff’s deputies, who were present. They arrested Kanafoski and charged him with damage to property amounting to more than $1,000, a felony. Kanafoski’s debut on the maritime stage had actually happened three years earlier. 2015 COAST GUARD RESCUE In 2015, the U.S. Coast Guard rescued Kanafoski 69 miles west of Hudson, Florida, after he had abandoned a burning sailboat to save his dog. He said he couldn’t fight the fire and save the dog, so he chose the dog. “The boat burned fast and the sharks were there within minutes. They weren't lying when they said sharks come to fuel oil and burned boats. They were small, but there were three,” Kanafoski wrote in a long Facebook post, which concluded with a plea for money for “John Supertramp Kanafoski.” The Coast Guard helicopter crew took photos and video of the burning boat and Kanafoski’s rescue, and the Coast Guard interview with him is posted on YouTube. There were smiles all around. The next time the Coast Guard heard about Kanafoski was in a complaint from Robert Tison, who reported that Kanafoski had somehow “lost” Tison’s 40-foot schoonerToketee. In 2016 Kanafoski traveled to the Pacific Coast of Mexico, and gave Tison a $2,500 deposit toward the purchase of the boat, the balance to be paid upon Kanafoski’s delivery of the vessel to Florida. Tison and his wife had pressing business back in the states and left most of their belongings on the boat with Kanafoski. The Tisons never sawToketee again, and she never passed through the Panama Canal. Tison said she was last seen being repaired in Quetzal, Guatemala. “I fear she was stripped of her extensive inventory of equipment and stores and scuttled,” Tison wrote to the Coast Guard. “Everything my wife and I possessed (minus what we had taken with us from Acapulco, Mexico, in a couple suitcases), including all my tools and equipment to work and my child’s toys was aboard Tokatee, which had been our home for 17 years. She was stocked with two years of provisions and extensive inventory of spares and survival equipment. Please help us hold this man accountable for his actions… “Kanafoski is a confidence man who is known to use social media to appear vetted in the yachting world and is a pathological liar not to be trusted. He is very likeable and seems very sincere. Trusting him is a serious mistake.” Tison tracked down a volunteer crewman that Kanafoski had recruited in Mexico. His passage aboardTokatee did not go well. This is from his text messages to Tyson: “I used to fish in Alaska and this was my first sailing trip. It wasn’t too fun. When our weed ran out, that’s when things really turned to shit. (Kanafoski) is one of those guys that really has to have his weed,” he wrote. “I had this weird feeling by the time we were way far out a sea that he could be dangerous, so I kept the knife close in my bunk. Told me he killed some guy in California. Also told me he went to Berkeley and had two degrees. I feel for you man.” In the end, nothing could be done for Tison. U.S. authorities had no jurisdiction in the matter, and it was unclear where and when anything illegal had happened. At one point, Kanafoski claimed the boat had been hit by lightning and sunk. TRAWLERFEST 2018 Then a remarkable thing happened. After his March 2018 arrest in the keys, Kanafoski shopped around for a journalist that might be sympathetic to a story about police overreach. A third party recommended him to me, and I made the call. I was working for PassageMaker magazine at the time and attending TrawlerFest in Baltimore. Coincidentally, so was Kanafoski—something to do with that DeFever 44. We met in a hotel restaurant near the docks. I had done just enough research to want an audio tape of our meeting, and Kanafoski agreed, but not for long. After a few minutes of questions, which he might not have been the kind he expected, he excused himself and left. Oddly, he let me keep a copy of his 30-page arrest report, which contained some pretty damning information. Police attending his eviction wrote about how they allowed Kanafoski to enter the engine room to gather personal tools only to find later that day that hoses and electrical cables had been cut and the bilge flooded with 100 gallons of diesel fuel. The damage would cost “several thousand dollars” to repair, according to police. “As Mr. Kanafoski was transferring some of his belongings to his friend’s vessel, he stated to his friend, ‘Don’t worry this boat isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.’ This is when Mr. Kanafoski’s demeanor really began to change,” Deputy Christopher Mattson wrote in a sworn statement included in the arrest report. “He began to call me an (obscenity) and a (obscenity). He stated he was not going to leave the vessel. He told me that possession is 9/10s of the law. I told Mr. Kanafoski that I am giving him a lawful order and that at this time his collection of personal property was over.” I asked the Keys prosecutor whether police would be looking for Kanafoski on the water, given his liveaboard propensities. “I can't say whether police will seek Mr. Kanafoski on waterways, marinas or ports, and I am not going to speculate on whether he may be on a boat,” Flanigan said. “The Monroe County Sheriff's Office and Key West Police Department conduct periodic sweeps for individuals with outstanding warrants. Additionally, the capias will be entered into a nation-wide alert system, and if he has an encounter with law enforcement that results in a warrant check, he is likely to be arrested.” Most trawler people could be described as “good citizens,” maybe 99 percent of trawler people. This story is a reminder of the exceptions that prove the rule, and one of them might be on a DeFever. Beware Jan Kanafoski. Police say he may be capable of violence. If you think you know where he is, call the Monroe County Sheriff's Office at 305-289-2371, or local police. |
The Coast Guard caught this image of Kanafoski's boat on fire.
Kanafoski sailed off in Robert Tison's schooner, and she was never seen by Tison and his wife again.
The R/V Ocean Endeavor was repossesed from Kanafoski, after which police say he sabotaged the vessel by cutting electrical cables and fuel lines.
Kanafoski 's latest mugshot, from Monroe County, Florida.
Detail from Kanafoski's 2018 arrest warrant indicating a "history of violence."
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