ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 The once owner of a popular Central Florida nightclub has agreed to plead guilty in federal court to attempted coercion and enticement of a minor for sex.<\/p>\n
In the plea deal, Richard Kowalczyk must serve a minimum of 10 years maximum of life in federal prison. He must also register as a sex offender.<\/p>\n
Sentencing is scheduled for July.<\/p>\n
Richard Kowalczyk was the owner and manager of the popular Southern Nights nightclub<\/a> along Bumby Avenue in Orlando.<\/p>\n Investigators said they had discovered conversations with Kowalczyk in which he discussed \u201chands-on sexual encounters with minors\u201d and received child pornography.<\/p>\n [EXCLUSIVE: Become a News 6 Insider (it\u2019s FREE)<\/a> | PINIT! Share your photos<\/a>]<\/p>\n As a result, law enforcement seized Kowalczyk\u2019s cell phone while he was at an Orlando airport in 2023, and searched Kowalczyk\u2019s home in Central Florida, where he and Patrick lived together, court records reveal.<\/p>\n A search of Kowalczyk\u2019s electronic devices yielded a multitude of images and videos of \u201cchild exploitation,\u201d including images of children under 12 years old, a court motion states.<\/p>\n During an interview at the time of the search, Kowalczyk admitted to receiving child pornography, detectives announced.<\/p>\n Investigators also said they discovered conversations between Kowalczyk and Patrick stemming back to 2019 in which they discussed their intent to \u201cengage in sexual acts\u201d with children.<\/p>\n \u201cThey also discuss the age of the minors they seek to engage in sexual acts with, consistently using the term \u2018young,\u2019 discussing the age of consent, and how to look for \u2018young\u2019 sexual partners on the Grindr application. For example, on Dec. 29, 2019, Patrick asked Kowalczyk through SMS messaging, \u2018do you ever find young boys on Grindr? Wondering if there\u2019s some by resorts.\u2019 <\/p>\n Kowalczyk responded, \u2018always.\u2019<\/p>\n In June 2020, Kowalczyk and Patrick agreed to travel to Key West. Accordingly, Kowalczyk booked the trip, packed their bags, and traveled to Key West from the Middle District of Florida. They discussed their plan to seek out minors and engage in sex acts on the trip.\u201d<\/p>\n United States of America v. Richard Kowalczyk and Eric Patrick, “Motion for Pretrial Detention”<\/p>\n According to investigators, Kowalczyk had found an underage teen on Grindr while in Key West and instructed Patrick on how to \u201centice\u201d the boy to engage in sexual activity, such as sending sexual images and talking \u201cdirty\u201d to him.<\/p>\n \u201cCritically, Kowalczyk and Patrick succeeded in enticing (the boy) to produce child pornography in order to satisfy their own sexual deviant interest in children,\u201d the motion reads. \u201cTheir conversations repeatedly revolved around the sexual exploitation of minors.\u201d<\/p>\n Court records show that Kowalczyk and Patrick were indicted last month on the following charges stemming as far back as 2020:<\/p>\n Kowalczyk: Attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity; distribution of child pornography; two counts of receipt of child pornography; and possession of child pornography<\/p>\n Patrick: Attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity; receipt of child pornography; and distribution of child pornography<\/p>\n After the arrest in January 2025, Southern Nights posted a statement on Facebook regarding the allegations:<\/p>\n Southern Nights & District Dive has always strived to be a safe space for everyone. Being an LGBTQ+ nightclub, we are constantly standing in the face of adversity. We have fought hard for our reputation and for our community. The allegations that have recently come to light are not ones we take lightly, and absolutely do not condone. Our businesses have no involvement in these allegations. While he maintains his innocence, Richard Kowalczyk has transferred ownership and will step aside from all responsibilities. We are committed to continuing to maintain our locations as the place they have always been: a place of community and a safe place where people can go and enjoy themselves.<\/p>\n Clara Barr \u2014 owner of RKBARR, thereby owner of Southern Nights and District Dive \u2014 later said in a longer statement that an immediate decision rendered Kowalczyk\u2019s ownership and operation of the nightclubs nonexistent.<\/p>\n \u201c(Kowalczyk\u2019s) shares in the parent company have been transferred to me. I will remain as the sole owner of it. I have owned these nightclubs for 12 years and am absolutely committed to making sure there is always a safe, fun space for our community. I understand the immediate need to show transparency, and I will remain steadfast in being as open and transparent as possible as the legal process of this divestiture unfolds. This does not change the face that (Kowalczyk) is no longer an owner. (Kowalczyk) will have no presence in the establishments and companies, no involvement in their operations, and will have zero financial profit from any of the companies,\u201d Barr wrote, in part.<\/p>\n Read Barr\u2019s full statement below:<\/p>\n Clara Barr \u2014 owner of RKBARR, thereby owner of Southern Nights and District Dive \u2014 statement on Kowalczyk\u2019s revoked ownership and operation of the nightclubs. (Copyright 2024 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 The once owner of a popular Central Florida nightclub has agreed to plead guilty in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[104848,265,28,104849,1335,139,141,140,2371,6180,104847,15670,76798],"class_list":{"0":"post-235078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-central-florida-crime","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-crime-news","12":"tag-orange-county","13":"tag-orlando","14":"tag-orlando-headlines","15":"tag-orlando-news","16":"tag-prison","17":"tag-sex-crimes","18":"tag-sex-offender-registry","19":"tag-sexual-exploitation","20":"tag-southern-nights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}