Misdemeanor conviction won't affect candidacy of Largo man

A Largo man who lost his children after one of them was bitten by a pet wolf-hybrid was convicted Tuesday of violating an injunction designed to keep him away from them.

However, the conviction won't affect his candidacy for a Pinellas County Commission seat, officials said.

Greg Pound, 54, is scheduled to be sentenced next month after a jury found him guilty of the misdemeanor. Prosecutors are seeking a year-long sentence in jail.

The petition for an injunction was filed by the children's grandfather, who has adopted them, said Richard Ripplinger, the county court director of the misdemeanor division.

Although Pound was ordered to stay away from his children, he placed himself along his children's school bus routes and displayed signs and blew kisses at them, Ripplinger said. Some of Pound's actions were recorded on video by Pinellas sheriff's detectives, who investigated Pound, Ripplinger said.

Pound is a candidate for a District 2 at-large county commission seat. He is challenging incumbent Calvin Harris, as is Norm Roche.

Nancy Whitlock, a spokeswoman for the Supervisor of Elections Office in Pinellas County, said Pound's conviction won't affect his candidacy because the conviction is for a misdemeanor, not a felony.

"Misdemeanors are not even on the radar," Whitlock said. "It doesn't affect your voting rights so it doesn't affect your eligibility as a candidate." Even someone with a felony conviction can run, as long as that person's civil rights have been restored, she said.

Pound has become a fixture outside the criminal justice center on 49th Street, where he encourages passers-by to look at his website, RescueMyKids.com. He accuses the state of unnecessarily taking children away from their parents.

One reason prosecutors are asking for a yearlong jail sentence is they believe Pound would not comply with any terms or probation or agree to undergo treatment. A competency evaluation was ordered Tuesday after the jury verdict, court records show.

"He remains resolute in his own paranoid thinking," Ripplinger said.

On Aug. 2, 2004, one of Pound's four children, then 20 days old, was picked up by the head by a wolf-hybrid belonging to the child's aunt. The infant recovered.