Friday, September 23, 2011

Child porn charge on father-in-law of missing mom

FILE - Approximately two dozen law enforcement office officers from the West Valley City Utah Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff's Department investigate the home of Josh Powell, husband of missing Utah mom Susan Powell, and his father Steve Powell in Puyallup, Wash., in this Aug. 25, 2011 file photo. West Valley Police who reviewed the videotapes and compact discs found "found thousands of images of females being videotaped without their knowledge, including Susan Powell. The father-in-law of a missing Utah woman was charged with voyeurism and possession of child pornography and arrested Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 Pierce County authorities said. (AP Photo/The News Tribune, Dean J. Koepfler, File)

FILE - Approximately two dozen law enforcement office officers from the West Valley City Utah Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff's Department investigate the home of Josh Powell, husband of missing Utah mom Susan Powell, and his father Steve Powell in Puyallup, Wash., in this Aug. 25, 2011 file photo. West Valley Police who reviewed the videotapes and compact discs found "found thousands of images of females being videotaped without their knowledge, including Susan Powell. The father-in-law of a missing Utah woman was charged with voyeurism and possession of child pornography and arrested Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011 Pierce County authorities said. (AP Photo/The News Tribune, Dean J. Koepfler, File)

In this Aug. 19, 2011, photo, Steven Powell, the father-in-law of missing Utah woman Susan Powell, talks in Puyallup, Wash., about the search for Susan Powell. Steven Powell was charged with voyeurism and possession of child pornography and arrested Thursday, Sept. 22, 2011, Pierce County (Wash.) authorities said. (AP Photo/The Salt Lake Tribune, Rick Egan)

FILE - This undated picture made available by Hardman Photography shows Susan Powell. Powell, a 28-year-old mother of two young children, was reported missing Dec. 7, 2009. Authorities are still continuing their search in the Utah desert for clues in the 2009 disappearance. (AP Photo/Hardman Photography, Amber Hardman, File) NO SALES

(AP) ? The father-in-law of a missing Utah woman was charged Thursday with voyeurism and possession of child pornography after police investigating her disappearance came across thousands of images of women videotaped without their knowledge, some of his daughter-in-law, Pierce County authorities said.

Steven Powell, 61, was arrested at his Puyallup, Wash., home and set for arraignment Friday in Superior Court.

Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said Powell was charged with 14 felony counts of voyeurism and one count of possession of child pornography. He said police found "thousands of images of females being videotaped without their knowledge, including Susan Powell," on tapes and discs seized from his home during an Aug. 25 search as part of their investigation into her disappearance.

Powell is the father of Josh Powell, Susan's husband, who is the only named person of interest in his wife's disappearance. Josh Powell has never been arrested or charged in the case. The two live together in Washington.

"The photographer focuses on the women's buttocks, breasts," Lindquist said in a statement. "Many images were of minor females."

The images included shots of two girls who were as young as 8 and 10 years old at the time, the prosecutor said.

Pierce County authorities determined those girls lived near Steven Powell from June 2006 to August 2007.

A person who answered the phone at the Powell home Thursday night hung up on a reporter.

Police have said Josh Powell has been uncooperative in the investigation into his missing wife. He claims he took the couple's two sons ? then ages 4 and 2 ? on a midnight camping trip in the mountains west of Salt Lake City on Dec. 6, 2009, the night before Susan Powell was reported missing.

Authorities have spent the last 10 days searching a remote central Utah desert about 30 miles from where Josh Powell claims he went camping that night. At one point, they said they found a "shallow grave" after cadaver dogs alerted them to the spot, but they later found no human remains.

The search of the Powell's home came after police wrapped up a search for evidence in a network of abandoned mines outside Ely, Nev.

Around that time in August, Josh Powell and his father went on national television to discuss the case.

They claimed Susan Powell was promiscuous, emotionally unstable and suicidal, a claim her family denies.

Steven Powell said he had a flirtatious relationship with his daughter-in-law and believed they were in love.

"Susan was very sexual with me," Steve Powell told ABC's Good Morning America. "We interacted in a lot of sexual ways because Susan enjoys doing that."

Susan's father, Chuck Cox, denied the allegations, and said it was Steve Powell who initiated unwanted sexual advances. Cox didn't return a telephone call Thursday night.

Josh Powell has denied killing his wife or having anything to do with her disappearance.

"I would never even hurt her," a tearful, red-eyed Josh Powell told CBS' Early Show in August.

Josh and his father have said they believe Susan Powell ran off with another man.

"I'm still thinking she left," Steve Powell told the AP in August. "Hopefully they'll be able to find her at some point ... We don't believe she's dead."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-09-23-Missing%20Mom-Utah/id-ac3219934d9840b9833e1c7f561dc177

indianapolis jennifer lawrence wayne rooney man u vs arsenal man u vs arsenal manhattan young

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.