Convicted sex offender Steven Powell to move to Tacoma

TACOMA, Wash. — Convicted sex offender Steven Powell’s plans to move to the Hilltop neighborhood in Tacoma weren thwarted after KIRO 7 was told about the move by a law enforcement source and began asking questions about the location.

Powell, 64, was convicted on 14 counts of voyeurism in May 2012 for repeatedly videotaping two young neighbor girls as they used the bathroom in their South Hill home. Powell shot the video from a window in his bedroom next door. He served his sentence in a Washington state prison and was released March 23.

Powell had planned to live in a home approved by the Department of Corrections (DOC) as transitional housing for former inmates in the 2500 block of South J Street in Tacoma after spending two weeks in a Fife motel. But the DOC told KIRO 7 the location was “no longer a viable address” for Powell as of Friday afternoon. A DOC representative could not say why Powell would no longer be allowed to live at the home.

The house is directly across the street from a home where a 12-year-old girl was abducted and murdered on the night of July 4, 2007. Zina Linnik vanished from the alley behind her family’s home. Her body was later found near the Silver Lake resort outside of Eatonville.  Terapon Adhahn, 48, pleaded guilty to Linnik’s murder as well as the abduction and rape of another girl in 0and was sentenced to life in prison.

A KIRO 7 news crew spotted Powell as he walked past Zina’s Playground, a park named in Linnik’s honor. He refused to answer questions and ran when confronted about his plans to move to Tacoma.

Powell is the father of Josh Powell suspected of murdering his wife Susan in December of 2009 in the Valley City, Utah home and disposing of her body. Her remains have never been found. Josh Powell killed himself and his two sons in a fiery explosion in February 2012.

Parents at Zina’s Playground expressed anger over news he had tried to move to the area.

“I’m offended, I really am”, said Andrea Howard as she visited the park with her two children. “I fear for my son’s safety and all the other kids in the neighborhood.”

Jack Pleasant, who lives across the alley from the home said he didn’t know Powell was planning to move to the neighborhood until he was asked about it by a KIRO 7 news crew.

“Oh, I’m infuriated by this”, said Pleasant.  Pleasant said he was afraid Powell’s presence in the neighborhood could lead to violence because of his notoriety and reputation.

“This is going to blow up. This is going to get nasty”, said Pleasant.

The DOC had no available information on where Powell will live now that he has been told he cannot live at the home on Ssouth J Street.

KIRO