TACOMA, WA – Today a Pierce County jury found Steven Powell, 61, guilty of 14 counts of Voyeurism. Evidence of the crimes was discovered during a search of Powell’s residence as part of the ongoing homicide investigation regarding Susan Powell, who disappeared from her Utah home more than two years ago. The charges are based on images of two young girls who are unclothed and taking a bath, using the toilet, and getting dressed or undressed.
“Mr. Powell has been held accountable for the crimes he committed in Pierce County,” said Prosecutor Mark Lindquist. “This was the result of vigorous prosecution by Deputy Prosecutors Grant Blinn and Bryce Nelson and good police work by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and the West Valley City Police Department, who assisted.”
On August 25, 2011, detectives from the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department and West Valley City Police Department executed the search warrant at the Puyallup residence where Steven Powell and his son Josh lived. Several computers, digital media, recordings, and photographs were seized. West Valley Police personnel reviewed videotapes and compact discs and found thousands of images of females being videotaped without their knowledge. The photographer focuses on the women’s buttocks, breasts, and genital areas. Many images were of minor females.
Some of the images were of two girls who were as young as eight and ten years old at the time of the recording. In many of the images the photographer zooms in on the girls’ breasts, buttocks, and genital areas. Investigators determined that the victims lived next door to Steven Powell from June, 2006 to August, 2007. Steven Powell’s bedroom window faced the side of the victims’ residence and the line of sight matches the camera angle seen in the videos.
On February 5, 2012, during a regularly scheduled supervised visitation with his sons Charlie, 7, and Braden, 5, Josh Powell took his sons inside his rented home in Graham and locked out the social worker. Minutes later the house exploded into flames. The bodies of Powell and his sons were found inside the charred remains. Powell had assaulted the boys with a hatchet and set the house on fire, killing all of them.
Powell faces a standard range sentence of approximately four years in prison. Prosecutors intend to recommend an exceptional sentence that exceeds that standard range. Powell will be sentenced on June 15, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. in Department 17 in the County City Building in Tacoma.
