Child porn arrest in Lake Stevens

By Cathy Logg

Herald Writer

LAKE STEVENS — Armed with a search warrant for child pornography, federal agents knocked on the door at the Lake Stevens home. No one answered the door or the telephone, but they could hear someone walking around inside, and the lights and a television were on.

So an FBI agent walked around to the back door.

Inside, the agent saw a man crawling on the floor on his hands and knees.

That’s how federal agents found 42-year-old Michael Scott Powers in his home in the 10100 block of 30th Street NE on March 7, according to an affidavit filed Monday in U.S. District Court, where Powers has been charged in a complaint with knowingly possessing child pornography.

Powers made an initial appearance before U.S. District Court Judge John Weinberg Monday, and was released on his personal recognizance. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing March 29.

After agents gained access to Powers’ home, detective Reggie Chapman, a Washington State Patrol computer forensic examiner, noticed that the computer in Powers’ home office was deleting files and unplugged it, according to the affidavit. Chapman estimated that 15 percent of what was on the computer already had been deleted.

Powers told investigators that he saw them out his bedroom window and thought, "Oh, my God, they’re cops" and they "were coming to talk to me about all of the pornography," wrote FBI Special Agent Kera Wulbert in the affidavit. Powers immediately went to his computer and began the deletion process, she said.

Powers allegedly told investigators he browsed child pornography on the Internet from both his home and at work. He said he had been viewing both adult and child pornography on the Internet for several years, and did so from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. each day at work before his co-workers arrived at the office, and also on his home computer when his live-in girlfriend was not home, Wulbert said.

Wulbert listed some of the titles of the images, such as "man raping the babysitter," "high school locker," "preteen_eleven," and "underage tiny girl." Several images depicted children as young as 6 engaged in sexually graphic conduct. Some images involved minors engaged in sexual acts with other minors, and some involved minors engaged in sexual acts with adults, Wulbert wrote.

Powers did not return a call for comment.

He worked at Stimson Lane Vineyards in Woodinville for 10 years, until the FBI showed up last Thursday and told company officials they had reason to believe Powers had used computers illegally to access Internet sites, said Keith Love, the company’s vice president for communications.

"He has no connection with the company and never will," Love said.

Powers had served as the company’s information systems network manager.

"We never had any problems with him; no complaints. We were shocked like everybody else" by his arrest, Love said.

Powers’ arrest and the subsequent broadcast of his identity caused some problems for at least one person in the area with a similar name.

Everett private investigator Michael J. Powers, who runs the business Washington Legal Works, said he received nine telephone calls before noon Tuesday inquiring whether he was the person charged in the U.S. District Court complaint. He is not.

Reporter Jim Haley contributed to this report.

You can call Herald Writer Cathy Logg at 425-339-3437 or send e-mail to logg@heraldnet.com.