Paul Petersen (criminal)

Paul Petersen is a former public official in Arizona who was accused of smuggling pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to at least three different states, in an adoption scheme. He pled guilty to charges of human smuggling, communication fraud, fraud and other charges in June 2020.[1] His actions violated a compact between the United States and the Marshall Islands, which bans Marshallese people from traveling to the United States for adoptions unless they have a specific visa.[2]

Criminal actions

Petersen charged couples $35,000 to adopt children from the Islands, and hired individuals to recruit pregnant women to give birth in the United States, then give their children up for adoption. In compensation the women received $10,000 and the cost of their travel was covered. Some adoptive families denied being made aware that Petersen was paying the women involved, and many of the women claim that the only medical care they received was during labor pains or while they were giving birth.[2] Petersen illegally accessed state funded medical benefits to aid the women to have medical care, reportedly about $814,000 in Arizona Medicaid funds.[3]

One adoptive couple who worked with Petersen went to a home that housed some of the women involved in the scheme. They later told investigators they believed the home to be a part of a "baby mill" and they saw many women sleeping on mattresses on the floor.[2] After the adoptions occurred, the birth mothers either moved to Arkansas or returned to the Marshall Islands.[4]

Investigation into Petersen began in December 2018 after a state trooper was tipped off about concerns surrounding the legitimacy of the adoption process, by a friend who was considering to adopt with Petersen.[3] Utah officials began investigating into Petersen after a hospital staffer Utah called an attorney general tip line in October 2017, with concerns about a possible illegal adoption involving a Marshallese women at the hospital.[1] Investigators in Utah, found an influx of Marshallese women giving birth and placing their babies up for adoption while listing the same house owned by Petersen as their place of residence.[5]

Petersen was charged by officials from Utah, Arizona, and Arkansas in October 2019 in relation to allegedly smuggling pregnant women from the Marshall Islands into the United States for the adoption of their children.[2] In Arizona, Petersen was charged with twenty-nine counts of fraudulent schemes and three counts of conspiracy, theft and forgery, along with eleven other felonies including communications fraud, human smuggling and sale of a child in Utah, and nineteen federal charges of relating to the illegal entry of individuals to Arkansas.[3]

Plea deals

Petersen entered guilty pleas in three courts in June 2020. He pled guilty in Arizona on June 18;[6] in Utah’s Third District Court on June 19;[7] and in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Arkansas on June 24.[8] As part of his plea agreement with the state of Arizona, Petersen paid $650,000 to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (the states Medicaid agency); $11,000 to an unnamed victim; and $18,000 to the Arizona attorney general's office to cover investigative costs.[4] As part of his plea deal in federal court, some federal charges will be dropped after he is sentenced. His federal sentences may be served concurrently with his state sentences.

Personal life

Prior to his conviction, Petersen was the Maricopa County Assessor[9] and an adoption lawyer licensed in Utah, Arizona, and Arkansas.[2] He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served his church mission trip to the Marshall Islands.[3]

Petersen's father is former Arizona State Treasurer David Peterson.[10] Peterson married his wife Raquel in 2006. She field for divorce in 2019 after his indictment.[11]

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References
  1. Miller, Jessica (June 19, 2020). "Paul Petersen pleads guilty to human smuggling in Utah as part of a multistate adoption scheme". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  2. Miller, Jessica (October 9, 2019). "Arizona elected official believed to have smuggled more than 40 pregnant women through Utah in illegal 'baby mill'". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  3. Boehm, Jessica; Garcia, Uriel J.; Altavena, Lily (October 9, 2019). "AG: Maricopa County assessor illegally flew pregnant women to U.S.; 8 found in Mesa house". azcentral. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  4. Faith Karimi; Pierre Meilhan. "Arizona official brought women to the US to give birth and charged families to adopt the babies". CNN. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  5. Knox, Annie (2020-06-19). "Former Arizona official pleads guilty in Utah adoption scheme". Deseret News. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  6. "Former Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen pleads guilty to fraud in adoption scheme case". KNXV. 2020-06-18. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  7. "Paul Petersen Pleads Guilty in Marshallese Adoption Fraud Case". Utah Attorney General. 2020-06-19. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  8. Paybarah, Azi (2020-06-24). "Former Arizona Official Pleads Guilty in Adoption Scheme". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  9. Miller, Jessica (November 15, 2019). "Paul Petersen, accused of human smuggling, makes first court appearance in Utah". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  10. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2019/10/13/paul-petersen-father-david-petersen-resigned-arizona-treasurer-2006/3947951002/
  11. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2019/12/23/paul-petersens-wife-raquel-petersen-files-divorce-ahead-adoption-scheme-trials/2735866001/
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