Convicted voyeur Steven Powell wants state to pay for sex offender treatment
Apr 16, 2014, 2:12 PM | Updated: Apr 17, 2014, 7:55 am
Convicted voyeur Steven Powell wants the state to pay for his court-ordered sex offender treatment now that he’s been released from prison.
Powell – the father-in-law of missing and presumed murdered Puyallup mother Susan Cox Powell – argues in a motion filed earlier this month in Pierce County Superior Court that the state Department of Corrections failed to make sex offender treatment available to him while he was in prison as it should have, the Tacoma News Tribune reports.
A judge is scheduled to hear arguments on the matter Friday.
Powell, 64, contends he should have been placed in a year-long treatment program after his transfer to the Twin Rivers correctional unit near Monroe in August 2012, even though he was eligible, because of good behavior, for release nine months later.
The superintendent of the center refused to allow him to enroll in the program in part because he was eligible for release prior to completing the full year.
An assistant state attorney general who represents the Corrections Department says Powell did not qualify for sex offender treatment while in prison, and corrections officials were within their discretion to deny it to him.
Powell was released from prison last month after serving his full 30-month term. He was convicted on multiple counts of voyeurism for secretly photographing two young girls as they bathed and used the toilet in the house next door to his Puyallup-area home.
Powell came under investigation in 2011 as detectives searched his home for clues into the disappearance of Susan Cox Powell. They discovered a disc containing photographs and video of girls and women. He was convicted in May 2012.
Powell’s son Josh killed his two young sons and himself in a Pierce County home in February 2012. While many believe he was guilty of Susan’s murder, he was never charged. Steven Powell has remained silent with investigators about Susan’s disappearance although friends and family of hers are sure he knows something.
