This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Steve Powell, father-in-law of missing Utah mom Susan Cox Powell, says a planned auction of his residence will leave him and two adult children homeless.
A Washington judge ordered the home be sold as part of a judgment now totalling nearly $1.9 million. The judgment was entered in August against Powell, who was convicted in May 2012 of 14 counts of voyeurism for taking surreptitious photos of two young girls in the bathroom of their home.
A public notice posted by the Pierce County Sheriff's Office says the Puyallup, Wash., home will be sold to the highest bidder on Feb. 7 unless Powell comes up with the money before 4:30 p.m. that day.
That's impossible, Powell says in court documents.
Powell, 63, has requested a telephone hearing in order to object to the sale. He says he was never properly served with notice about the sale of his home, located at 18615 94th Avenue Court East.
In a court filing, Powell says he was "in transport" and did not receive the notice until Nov. 22 and that it was then misplaced by the Department of Corrections. By the time it was submitted, Powell had missed a filing deadline.
In the handwritten court filing, Powell says his two adult children currently reside in the home and will be left homeless by the sale.
"If defendant were married and his spouse occupied his home, it would clearly be considered his homestead though defendant be detained elsewhere," Powell writes in a court document.
Powell also says his personal belongings are in the home, which he plans to move into upon release from prison. Powell, who is incarcerated in the Monroe Correctional Facility in Monroe, Wash., will complete a 30-month sentence in March.
The Washington Department of Corrections rejected an early termination plan that would have allowed Powell to be released last May in part because he planned to move back into the residence. A second release plan fell apart in November after a landlord withdrew an offer to rent to Powell.
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