Anti-swingers blog poses as Countryside Christian Center

LAND O'LAKES — One of Clearwater's largest churches has been unwittingly drawn into the two-month-old feud between nudists and swingers at Caliente Resorts.

Caliente nudist homeowners want the club to stick to family values, but its managers are pushing ahead in marketing to a younger crowd, including swinger groups that engage in what critics call wife-swapping sex parties. Caliente pulled its affiliation last week with the American Association for Nude Recreation, two months after the association began an investigation into sexually charged parties at the club.

About two weeks ago, pastor John Lloyd of Countryside Christian Center, learned of a Web site claiming to represent an "Anti-Indecency Mission" of his church.

The Web site zoomed in on the "swinging lifestyle" at Caliente, and criticized it as "an immoral and deviant sex practice."

But its anonymous author took more space attacking Stan Antonuk, chief executive officer of Kowabunga!, a $35-million, publicly listed Clearwater-based Internet company that owns several online sex-related, including wife-swapping, businesses.

"Antonuk's business has gained particular local attention recently since members of the Caliente nudist resort complained about Antonuk promoting the 'swinging lifestyle' at the nudist resort," the author wrote.

Kowabunga! officials said Caliente had bought limited advertising on their sex-related Web sites in the past, like www.swappernet.com and www.eroticy.com, but said Antonuk was not a part of the decision to buy these Web sites and had nothing to do with the ads. The company's attorney said he believes a disgruntled former employee is behind the attacks.

Countryside Christian Center said it has nothing to do with the Anti-Indecency Mission.

"We don't have any idea who it is, but we are very concerned," John Lloyd, founder and pastor of Countryside, said Tuesday. "We've sent them messages saying they have no permission to use our name. We've got nothing back from them."

Lloyd said that the Web site, cccaim.blogspot.com, provided the church's physical address as its own. Its anonymous author also attacked various Tampa Bay area personalities for "indecency," including strip club owner Joe Redner, in blog entries that run alongside chunks of Bible quotes.

Lloyd said his church does not have an "anti-indecency mission." He contacted Clearwater police for help. He said his church was considering legal action.

"I don't even agree with what they're doing," Lloyd said, of the Web site's public criticism of Antonuk. "They're going to end up getting sued. What they are doing is illegal."

On Tuesday, when the St. Petersburg Times spoke to Lloyd, cccaim.blogspot.com still sported Countryside Christian Center's name and address. When the Times e-mailed the ''mission,'' it replied using the name of Countryside Christian Center attached to the e-mail address ccc.aimission@gmail.com. It repeated the accusations but ignored the Times' request for a direct interview.

But by Wednesday, the Web site had changed its name to the "Clearwater Christian Coalition Anti-Indecency Mission." It had also removed Countryside's physical address from the Web site's heading.

"We still don't know who it is," Lloyd said Thursday. "We think it's some people who thought they were doing a good thing. I hope it was that innocent."

Clearwater police spokeswoman Elizabeth Daly-Watts said one of the department's detectives had helped Countryside, but police found nothing criminal in its investigations. She suggested the church pursue charges in a civil court.

But Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said that even if criminality was established, there would be a problem finding out who did it, because online identities were difficult to pin down.

Kowabunga! has been trying to sell its online sex businesses, according to a press release dated June 30. The company bought the sites in 2005; Antonuk was not the chief executive at the time.

Kowabunga! chief executive Antonuk referred questions to Vaughn Duff, the company's general counsel.

"Although swappernet and eroticy are a small part of Kowabunga!'s direct division, they are businesses that the company has been trying to divest for some time now, as previously announced by the company," said Duff. "Mr. Antonuk … has never taken any action to promote any activities of Caliente. Nor is he involved in the day-to-day management of the soon-to-be-sold online dating business. Caliente previously placed limited advertising on a dating division's Web site. The company currently has no relationship with Caliente or its activities."

Caliente spokeswoman Angye Fox said "swappernet has had some members come to Caliente, just like people from Aahz," referring to a swinger "lifestyle" party organizers. She said swappernet has no operational agreement with Caliente.

Caliente managers have acknowledged aggressively marketing to a younger demographic with more imaginatively "sexy" parties, but have never conceded to allowing active sex at the club's parties.

They say party areas are screened off and public displays of affection are banned in common areas of the club. The parties' organizers insist nothing "untoward" happens there.

Calling the anonymous accusations "slanderous," Duff said he believed a disgruntled former Kowabunga! employee was responsible. He said Kowabunga! has begun a push to identify the attacker.

The company's marketing director, Tanya Boggs, said the online dating businesses were acquired on a whim under a former chief executive, not Antonuk. She said the company's bread and butter lie in sophisticated click-through online advertising technologies.

"The other things are just nonsense," she said. "They are profitable, but we're looking to divest them. Somebody else can have them."

Comments on this article

by HubbaDubba	Jul 25, 2008 9:45 PM
There arent enought swing clubs as it is. Enough with the witch hunts.

by Leah	Jul 22, 2008 8:19 PM
These business should be shut down. There is a lot more wrong then just obscenity happening here.

by Clearwater	Jul 22, 2008 2:58 PM
The sites are definitely obscene and I hope the children Antonuk's kids go to school with never srumble upon them. Swinging is disgusting especially when you look at this couple.

by Sharon	Jul 22, 2008 12:44 PM
Sarah, Pator Lloyd is not condoning pornography or partner-swapping; he is objecting to the unauthorized use of the church's name. John Lloyd is a man of high moral standards and a great pastor, under whom the church has grown, scandal-free.

by Mike	Jul 22, 2008 12:44 PM
Why would Charles Pope be on the board of a porno company?

by Marty	Jul 22, 2008 12:43 PM
One thing is for sure, Stan and Monique Antonuk's insistence on forcing their swinging lifestyle on this company and others are not helping the companies share price or their neighbors home value. Can't he find some other way to get sex for the pig?

by Roberta Mix	Jul 22, 2008 12:43 PM
Very rarely do you come accross a story that everything about it makes you feel ashamed to be human. The author of the blog, the minister, and Antonuk all should be ashamed for themselves. The only question is when is the mini series to hit cable?

by Carol	Jul 22, 2008 12:43 PM
Oh my lord, I think my daughter swims with the Antonuk's daighter. This whole thing is very alarming.

by Darryl	Jul 22, 2008 12:43 PM
Remember that as a publicly traded company, Antonuk reports to a board of directors. So he can't decide to shut down these sites unless the board directs him to. I am sure he wants to get rid of them, but even as CEO he doesn't have ultimate power.

by A Christian	Jul 22, 2008 12:42 PM
Kowabunga should be investigated by the States Attorney Office for obscenity charges. Stan Antonuk is the CEO and should be held responsible and should be forced to stop his swinger wife swapping parties. People that defend this are nuts.

by Katie and Jeff	Jul 21, 2008 9:53 PM
We're swingers and the immediate question that comes to mind when we saw the Antonuk's photo on that blog was who in the world would want to swing with them? This has got to be the ugliest couple I have ever seen in the lifestyle and in general!

by Andrew	Jul 21, 2008 9:53 PM
Did you see the pictures on the blog? If I were Stan Antonuk I would want to swap wives with anyone that would be willing! No wonder why he ended up in this type of business. However, its time for him to pay for his sins.

by Charles	Jul 21, 2008 9:41 PM
It seems like this blog has the right intentions in mind by stopping the local businesses sexually exploiting young women for profit. Tampa has been the "second city" for the porn industry for far too long. Antonuk should go to jail for obscenity.

by Barbara	Jul 21, 2008 9:41 PM
It seems Antonuk has been an executive of this company for years and they announced the selling of these businesses years ago. If Antonuk was good, he would simply shut them down. Complacency is no excuse for obscenity.

by Mark	Jul 21, 2008 9:13 PM
Stan is a good man that just got promoted to CEO in April and by June the company announce the intention to sell off these sites. Don't give the criminal that posted about Stan any credibility by repeating this nonsense.

by Jennifer	Jul 21, 2008 9:12 PM
I completely disagree. When a man is charging money to people to attend a party where sex is expected and sex is the purpose of the party then it is prostitution. When this is happening to the tune of $35 million in Palm Harbor, its a big problem.

by Sheryl	Jul 21, 2008 9:10 PM
Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett should look into the obscenity of Antonuk's pornographic websites of which the criminality will be easy to prove.

by nancy	Jul 21, 2008 9:08 PM
Antonuk has nothing to do with any of these adult sites and has been trying to get rid of them since being appointed CEO a couple months ago. The previous CEO and his wife are the real culprits who started these sites before antonuk became CEO.

by Lee	Jul 21, 2008 5:13 PM
Leave these people alone. If they want to do everything under the sun that is legal, who cares? Live your own life.

by Missy	Jul 21, 2008 5:06 PM
All the police need to do is find the former CEOs of THK. It's not that hard to do, especially when you consider their swinging lifestyle.

by Adrian	Jul 21, 2008 1:33 PM
This was once a good company but the new CEO has fired everyone that wanted to turn it from a adult entertainment company into an online technology company and it seems has no real intention of selling these sex wife-swapping sites despite whats said

by A lifestyler	Jul 21, 2008 1:32 PM
Since when did consenting adults who join a website that is in full compliance with the law become prostitutes or scum. Sorry but you people need to do some fact checking and get off your moral high horse - bet you all have skeletons in your closet.

by Jamie	Jul 21, 2008 1:32 PM
As someone who attends Countryside Christian for worship I hope to see these people publically outted and held fiscally responsible for the damage they are doing in the church's name.

by Debbie	Jul 20, 2008 10:48 PM
Creeps like Stan Antonuk and Joe Redner should be put out of business. This website seems to have good intentions.

by Janice	Jul 20, 2008 10:48 PM
Every year Thousands of local teenage girls get wrapped up in the sex industry through becoming involved in pornographic films and ending up on Antonuk?s sex websites, becoming sttrippers and ending up in Redner?s stripclubs, or selling their bodies.

by Douglas	Jul 20, 2008 8:51 PM
Stan Antonuk and his gang from swapper net as well as the Caliente people are going to be at swingfest in a couple of weeks in Miami.

by Kyle	Jul 20, 2008 8:51 PM
I wonder what kind of disease testing and age verification controls Stan Antonuk puts in place at his parties? Are there any other stories on the topic? It seems that such issues would pose particularly large liability issues for a public comapny.

by Linda	Jul 20, 2008 8:51 PM
Is our legal system so blind and negligent that Bruce Bartlett from the States Attorney?s office as well as a detective from the Clearwater police department wouldn't look into the $35 million profit sex party/brothel that this man is admitting to!?

by Shiela	Jul 20, 2008 8:51 PM
Boggs said that the online sex businesses were ?acquired on a whim?. What does that mean? Did Antonuk and his wife really have a good time one night and then woke up and owned the swing club? I hope they didn?t accidentally buy any crack coce factori

by Jack	Jul 20, 2008 8:50 PM
$35 Million. Man, that?s one successful swinger! Stan Antonuk must drive an Escalade and have two fur coats with a nice gold grill! I wonder how is must feel for the nudist to want to kick you out. Lowest of the low.

by David	Jul 20, 2008 8:50 PM
I love this article! We?re nudist and we don?t like those orgy people. Well, we?re swinging orgy people and we don?t like you nudist. And the CEO of the company saying that yeah, we love orgies, but don?t want to be associated with those nudist!

by Kathleen	Jul 20, 2008 8:50 PM
If somebody wants to hold private parties where sexual indiscretions may occur than that is their right. But a public company should not be profiting from it to the tune of $35 million. What is the difference between this and having a brothel?

by Dave	Jul 20, 2008 8:50 PM
Be informed and accurate or don't post. They do not make spyware, and their primary products are revolutionizing the internet advertising market by ensuring advertising effectiveness. You'd do well to investigate this next time before you comment.

by Tom Miller	Jul 20, 2008 8:19 AM
?Sophisticated click-through? So, that?s what they?re calling prostitution these days?

by arden	Jul 20, 2008 8:12 AM
Kowabunga! makes spyware, so don't feel sorry for them.