Constitutional Law

Fla. officials arrest pedophilia how-to book author

By By The Associated Press

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. ? Florida sheriff's deputies have arrested on obscenity charges a Colorado man who wrote a guide for pedophiles.

Polk County deputies arrested Phillip Ray Greaves II at his home in Pueblo, Colo., early today on a warrant out of Florida.

Polk Sheriff Grady Judd says his office was able to arrest Greaves on Florida obscenity charges because Greaves sold and mailed his book, The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct, to Polk deputies. Judd says Greaves even signed the book.

The self-published book offered advice to pedophiles on how to make sexual encounters with children as safe as possible. It was briefly for sale on Amazon, but the website removed it.

"He very proudly sold us his personal copy," Judd told the Associated Press. "I was outraged by the content. It was clearly a manifesto on how to sexually batter children ... . You just can't believe how absolutely disgusting it was."

Laurie Shorter, spokeswoman for the Pueblo County Sheriff's Department, said Greaves would be held in the county jail on the Florida charge. He was being booked this morning and it was unclear whether he had an attorney. Judd said Greaves could be in Florida as early as tonight.

"If he will waive extradition, it's my goal for him to eat processed turkey on Christmas Day in the Polk County Jail," Judd said.

Denver attorney David Lane, who has handled several high-profile First Amendment cases, said Florida could have a hard time extraditing Greaves. Greaves is entitled to a hearing where he can argue he should not be sent there to face charges, Lane said.

"The main question is whether what he's accused of in Florida would be a crime in Colorado," Lane said. "Obviously, it's not a crime in Colorado because he hasn't been arrested here."

Writs of extradition ? the paperwork necessary to send somebody to another state ? are routinely signed by Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a former Denver district attorney. But Lane, who is not involved with this case, said different issues were in play.

"Most of other extradition cases present clear-cut cases; the defendant was dealing drugs in that other state or some other crime that is also illegal here," Lane said.

A spokesman for Ritter did not return a message.

Greaves has no criminal record. He is being charged with distribution of obscene material depicting minors engaged in conduct harmful to minors.

Judd, known throughout Florida as a crusader against child predators, said he was incensed when he heard about the book and that no one had arrested Greaves for selling it.

"What's wrong with a society that has gotten to the point that we can't arrest child pornographers and child molesters who write a book about how to rape a child?" Judd said.

The book included first-person descriptions of sexual encounters, purportedly written from a child's point of view. Greaves argues in the book that pedophiles are misunderstood, as the word literally means to love a child. He adds that it is a crime only to act on sexual impulses toward children, and offers advice that purportedly allows pedophiles to abide by the law.

Judd said he and his detectives got Greaves to sell the book to them for $50; he sent it through the mail and told officers it was his last copy.

"If we can get jurisdiction ... we're coming after you," Judd said. "There's nothing in the world more important than our children."

Full post as published by First Amendment Center on December 19, 2010 (boomark / email).