"The Pedophile's Guide" Author Philip Ray Greaves II Arrested

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (CBS/AP) Police in Florida have filed an obscenity charge against Philip R. Greaves II, the author "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct," a self-published how-to guide for pedophiles that was yanked from Amazon.com last month.

Colorado authorities arrested Greaves on Monday at his home in Pueblo, Colo., on a Florida warrant that charges him with violating Florida's obscenity law.

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

"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. Judd said Greaves could be in Florida as early as Monday night.

Greaves has no criminal record, but his self-published book of advice on how to make sexual encounters with children safe caused a flap when it showed up on Amazon in November. The book was later removed from the site.

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 only a crime 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."

Greaves is being charged with distribution of obscene material depicting minors engaged in conduct harmful to minors.

More on Crimesider

Nov. 11, 2010 -Amazon.com Pulls Pro-Pedophilia Book; "Pedophile's Guide" No Longer Available on Site, Kindle