Steven Powell released from Washington state prison


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SALT LAKE CITY — Steven Powell has been released from a Washington state prison again.

The father of Josh Powell was released Tuesday, according to Washington Department of Corrections spokeswoman Jeremy Barclay, after serving his full term, including days taken off his sentence for good behavior.

Steven Powell, 66, will now be placed under community supervision for the next two years with regular visits by a community corrections officer, which is the equivalent of a parole officer in Utah.

In August of 2015, Powell was sentenced to serve five years in prison after being convicted of possession of child pornography. It was a charge that was dismissed at Powell's original trial but later reinstated after an appeals court ruled the judge had erred in his decision to dismiss it.

Powell was originally convicted in 2012 of 12 counts of voyeurism for taking pictures of two young neighbor girls, ages 8 and 10.

The release of Powell from prison is the latest chapter in the ongoing tragic story of the Powell family.

Police say Josh Powell killed his wife, West Valley mother Susan Powell, who went missing in 2009 and whose body has never been found. Josh Powell also killed their two young sons, 7-year-old Charlie and 5-year-old Braden, while committing suicide in 2012 by dousing his rental home in Graham, Washington, with gasoline and setting it on fire.

After Steven Powell was convicted, his two victims filed a multimillion-dollar civil suit against him and won. The house that Powell lived in where he took the voyeuristic pictures was seized and awarded to the girls as part of the settlement.

The case against Steven Powell started when West Valley police, while looking for clues into Susan Powell's disappearance, searched his Puyallup, Washington, home in August 2011. Josh Powell had moved in with his father by that time.

During their search, police found thousands of pictures and videos of young girls taken by Steven Powell, as well as photos and videos of Susan Powell that were secretly taken, as well as journals outlining his sexual obsession for his daughter-in-law.

Contributing: Marc Giaque

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