TACOMA — Steven Powell, who has served 30 months in prison for spying on neighbor girls, has been sentenced to an additional five years for possession of child pornography for photos he took through their bathroom window.
The News Tribune reported that Powell offered no explanation or apology during his sentencing in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday.
Powell was the father of Josh Powell, who authorities believe killed his wife, Susan Powell, in Utah, before moving to Puyallup, where he killed his two young sons and himself in an explosive house fire in 2012.
Authorities looking for evidence in Susan Powell’s disappearance searched Steven Powell’s home in 2011. They didn’t find it, but they did find evidence he used a telephoto lens to take photos of the girls, ages 8 and 9, from his bedroom window, which looked onto their bathroom.
A jury convicted him of voyeurism, but two related child-pornography counts were dismissed after Judge Ronald Culpepper ruled the images were not “sexually explicit.” An appeals court reversed that finding, and Powell was found guilty after another jury trial, leading to Friday’s sentencing.
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