Arizona official accused of smuggling pregnant women into the US
Authorities accuse Paul Petersen of smuggling dozens of pregnant women into the U.S. in a multi-state, multi-million dollar adoption scheme; Jonathan Hunt reports from Los Angeles.
An Arizona elected official was suspended Monday after being charged in a multimillion-dollar adoption scheme that allegedly brought pregnant women to the U.S. to give birth and then paid them to put the babies up for adoption.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors suspended assessor Paul Petersen -- he has refused calls to resign -- for 120 days without pay. The board doesn't have the power to remove him from his office, which determines the value of properties for tax purposes in Phoenix and its suburbs.
It said the law allows it to suspend Petersen, a Republican, for "neglect of duty" because of his absence from work and limited access to a phone and emails. He was elected in 2016.
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This undated file photo provided by the Maricopa County Assessor's Office shows Assessor Paul Petersen. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to notify Assessor Paul Petersen that it plans to consider suspending him for up to 120 days. (Maricopa County Assessor's Office via AP, File)
Petersen has been in federal custody since Oct. 8 and has been indicted in federal courts in Arkansas. He's also charged with crimes in Arizona and Utah that include human smuggling, sale of a child, fraud, forgery and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
An audit of Petersen's work computer found files from his adoption business, which is against protocol, authorities said.
Federal prosecutors allege Petersen was the head of an adoption ring that recruited women from the Marshall Islands to give birth in the U.S. and then paid them to give the babies up for adoption. Petersen allegedly used associates in the islands, where he'd done a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to recruit the women by offering many of them $10,000 each.
The case against him spans three years and involves 75 adoptions. Another 30 adoptions are pending in three states.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to notify Assessor Paul Petersen that it plans to consider suspending him for up to 120 days. It can't remove him from office and he's refused to resign. AP Photo/Jonathan J. Cooper)
The women were crammed into homes owned or rented by Petersen and sometimes not provided prenatal care, authorities said. Petersen charged families $25,000 to $40,000 per adoption, prosecutors allege.
Authorities said the adoptive families and birth mothers will not be charged with any crimes. No completed adoptions will be undone because authorities don't believe the women were misled into thinking their child would be returned.
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Prosecutors said the scheme defrauded Arizona's Medicaid system out of $800,000 because the woman had no intention of remaining in the state once they applied for benefits.
Fox News' Vandana Rambaran and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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