Police Sting Snares Pedophile Guide Author

DECEMBER 20--The Colorado man who authored a so-called pedophile’s guide that was recently banned by Amazon was arrested today on a felony obscenity charge after he was ensnared in an undercover sting operation launched by Florida cops.

Phillip Greaves, 47, is being held in a Pueblo jail in advance of a court hearing scheduled for this afternoon. He is pictured in the mug shot at right.

According to a Polk County Sheriff’s Office report, investigators began targeting Greaves last month, when a detective mailed him a letter requesting a signed copy of “The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct.” An undercover detective included a $50 postal money order (though an e-book version of the title sold, briefly, on Amazon for $4.79).

In an e-mail response to the undercover solicitation, Greaves wrote that, “I can’t order any new copies at this time, so I’m sending you my own personal copy. I hope that is alright with you.”

The book arrived at an undercover address in Winter Haven on December 8. It was inscribed, “For all your encouragement,” and was signed by Greaves.

Investigators, now with the offending book having been mailed into the state, allege that the work violates a state law covering the transmitting or distribution of obscene matter depicting “a minor engaged in any act or conduct that is harmful to minors.”

While the sheriff’s document quotes passages from Greaves’s book that are alleged to be obscene, including what the author describes as “Two Tales of Pedophilia,” portions of these excerpts have actually been redacted from the report. A sheriff’s spokesman said this was done because investigators did not want themselves to republish obscene material.

In an interview last month, Greaves told TSG that he suffers from manic depression and had been involuntarily hospitalized for nine months following a mental breakdown three years ago. He denied being a pedophile. (4 pages)