Steven Powell to be released from prison Sunday

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Law enforcement sources have told KIRO 7 when Steven Powell is released from prison in less than a week, he may live in Fife.

The Washington state Department of Corrections issued a news release on Monday stating Powell, 64, will be released from the state corrections facility in Monroe on Sunday.

Powell has served his entire 2-½ year sentence after his conviction on voyeurism charges in 2012.

“I don’t want him in our community,” Sara Seeger said, exasperated when she heard the news. “He didn’t raise his own child well, and I don’t want him near our children.”

Powell is the father of Joshua Powell, who was a suspect in the disappearance of his wife Susan from their Valley City, Utah, home in December of 2009.

Josh Powell insisted his wife had vanished on her own, but friends, family and eventually police in Valley City came to the conclusion Powell had killed his wife and hidden her body.

Steven Powell was a staunch defender of his son throughout the long search for Susan, and the media attention focused on the family after her disappearance.

He was arrested in 2011 after that investigation uncovered evidence Powell had been secretly videotaping two young girls who lived near his home in the South Hill area.

Police found video clips and photographs on Powell’s computer showing the two girls bathing and using a bathroom.  He was convicted on 14 counts of voyeurism in May of 2012. He served the entire sentence in prison including credit for time served in the Pierce County jail.

Powell has picked several locations in Pierce county to live once he’s released, but each time the locations have been made public and people living nearby have complained causing him to have to start the search for a home after prison all over again.

People in Fife have also said they don’t want him there either. “No I really don’t," said a man who only identified himself as Sam. “It doesn’t serve any positive purpose.”

Powell will be monitored by a specialized swex-crime unit community corrections officer once he’s out of prison.  He’ll wear an electronic home monitoring device for at least the first 30 days and sources say he will register as a level two sex offender.

Level two sex offenders “generally present a moderate risk to re-offend within community at large,” according to state sex offender guidelines.

KIRO