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Convicted murderer found in California after escaping Salt Lake City halfway house

A convicted murderer has been found in California after disappearing from his halfway house in Salt Lake City.

STOCKTON, California (ABC4) — A convicted murderer has been found in California after disappearing from his halfway house in Salt Lake City.

Over five years ago, Frank Gene Powell was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for defrauding an elderly Utah woman of nearly $300,000. At the time, Powell was a convicted murderer on parole.

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) says that in June 2025, Powell transferred from FCI Terminal Island to community confinement, meaning he would be living in either home confinement or a Residential Reentry Center (RRC, or halfway house).

According to an ABC-affiliated station in Sacramento, California, Stockton police officers and US Marshals conducted a traffic stop around 11:30 a.m. Thursday. During the stop, the officers took Powell into custody.

He was booked into the San Joaquin County Jail Thursday afternoon.

A spokesperson with the Stockton Police Department confirmed Powell’s identity matched the escaped parolee from Utah.

Powell’s criminal background

On Nov. 29, 1987, Powell — who was 29 at the time — was attending a party in Pleasant Grove along with several other people. The night consisted of drinking, and one of the attendees was a 20-year-old man named Glen Candland. During the course of the night, the two reportedly got into an argument that escalated, and they went out to the parking lot.

Powell then entered his vehicle, circled the parking lot, and struck Candland. The medical examiner determined that Candland’s cause of death was being hit by Powell’s truck. He pleaded guilty and received a reduced charge of manslaughter.

While in prison, Powell sexually assaulted another inmate and pleaded no contest. He received an additional sentence.

Powell later chose to rescind his guilty plea. In 1992, he was tried before a jury and convicted of criminal homicide, murder in the second-degree (a charge that no longer exists in Utah). Powell was sentenced to five years to life in prison.

For his crimes, he was sentenced to serve 10 years in federal prison and pay $273,849.20 in restitution to the victim.

“Powell is a career criminal who has fended off decades of rehabilitative attempts in the Utah state criminal justice system,” U.S. Attorney for Utah John W. Huber said at the time of his sentencing. “He’s a convicted murderer and sexual predator, who has now turned his criminal efforts to elder fraud while on state parole.”

ABC10 contributed to this reporting.