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HB bar, manager sued in rape case
by Robb Fulcher
One of four women allegedly attacked by convicted rapist Nicholas Temkey has filed a lawsuit against Temkey and the Pier Plaza bar where he worked as manager. The club's owners were unavailable for comment this week.
Temkey, 32, former manager of the Beach Club, pleaded no contest in May to charges that he raped one woman he met at the bar and attempting to sodomize another. As part of a plea agreement he was sentenced to four and-a-half years in state prison, and is likely to be paroled after serving about half his full sentence.
The civil lawsuit was filed by the first of the four women who came forward with accusations against Temkey. She alleges negligence on the part of the Beach Club and owners Jerry Centofanti and Pat McCauley, and accuses Temkey of sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.
Following form under state law, the lawsuit asks for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. The lawsuit alleges that the Beach Club "was and is a drinking establishment whereat reckless, raucous and wanton behavior, excessive drinking and negligent and criminal behavior were tolerated and promoted."
The suit alleges that the club owners "negligently screened, hired, trained and supervised" Temkey.
The ex-manager "had a propensity and practice of engaging in negligent and unreasonable sexual acts with female patrons...to whom he had provided alcoholic beverages and/or drugs, and...had in fact done so with numerous other patrons on numerous other dates," the suit alleges.
The woman alleges that Temkey gave her free drinks on July 17, 1999 and then lured her into his upstairs office where he sexually assaulted her. Temkey closed and locked the door and "thereby imprisoned" the woman in the office, the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit describes the plaintiff as "a diminutive woman, small in stature," and describes Temkey as "a large and muscular man with a dominating and arresting appearance and personality."
Police have described Temkey as standing 6-feet-4 and weighing 235 pounds.
Centofanti and McCauley were unavailable for comment this week.
Attorney Barry Greenhalgh of Encino, who represented Temkey at his criminal trial, also was unavailable on Tuesday. He has said previously that Temkey insists upon his innocence, but accepted a plea bargain to avoid a longer sentence.
Greenhalgh said that the allegations came from women whose advances had been rebuked by Temkey.
Deputy District Attorney Shanna Batten said the plea agreement spared the women a "tremendous amount of trauma" that they would have suffered from testifying at a trial and from press and public "scrutiny."
In exchange for the no-contest pleas, which have the same legal force as guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped five other charges against Temkey, sparing him the risk of a possible 15-year sentence. Once freed, Temkey must register as a sex offender with police wherever he chooses to live. Kauffman told him that failure to register is a felony, and would be the "third strike" against him after his conviction on the sex crimes. A third strike is punishable by a sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. ER