This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated.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 — the father of Josh Powell, who killed himself and his two sons two years ago and was a person of interest in his wife's 2009 disappearance — will be released from a Washington state prison next Sunday after completing his sentence.
Powell, 64, was convicted in May 2012 of 14 counts of voyeurism for taking surreptitious photos of two young neighbor girls in the bathroom of their home in Puyallup, Wash. The Washington State Department of Corrections has approved Powell's plan to live in a privately owned residence in Tacoma, where he will be supervised by a community corrections officer who is part of a specialized sex-crime unit.
Powell will be required to wear a GPS locator for at least the first 30 days of his community supervision, the department said in a news release issued Monday. He also will be required to attend a sex-offender treatment program. Other conditions of his release include checking in at least twice a month with his community corrections officer and getting permission before leaving Pierce County. A community corrections officer also will make multiple unannounced checks on Powell each month.
If Powell violates the conditions of his community supervision, he may be placed back in custody.
Two previous early release plans for Powell fell apart. A May 2013 release date was revoked because of concerns about his release plan, which covers such things as living arrangements and work opportunities. A second plan to release Powell last November collapsed after a landlord rescinded a rental agreement because of concerns for Powell, other tenants and the neighborhood after the address of the property was publicized.
Powell is currently housed at Monroe Correctional Complex. He started his prison sentence in June 2012 at the men's reception center in Shelton before he was transferred to the Twin Rivers Unit of Monroe Correctional Complex two months later.
The Department of Corrections has notified Powell's victims and local law enforcement about his scheduled release date, according to the news release.
Law enforcement found the photos of the neighborhood children during a search of Powell's home for evidence about his missing daughter-in-law. Susan Cox Powell, 28, disappeared from her home in West Valley City, in December 2009. She has never been found.
Josh Powell, 36, killed himself and his sons Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, in February 2012, in a deliberately set fire that erupted moments after the boys arrived at the rental home for a supervised visit. Michael Powell, another son of Steve Powell, committed suicide in February 2013 by jumping off a parking structure near his apartment in Minneapolis, where he was a graduate student at the University of Minnesota.