LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A former Arizona official accused of running an illegal adoption scheme in three states involving women from the Marshall Islands is changing his plea in Arkansas. A federal judge on Tuesday set a change-of-plea hearing for Paul Petersen, a Republican who served as Maricopa County’s […]
PHOENIX (AP) — A co-defendant in a human smuggling operation told police that a prostitution camp in the Marshall Islands provided many of the pregnant women involved in former Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen’s allegedly illegal adoption business. Co-defendant Lynwood Jennet told police that majority of the women were from a […]
PHOENIX (AP)-A woman accused of aiding a politician in metro Phoenix in what authorities say was an illegal adoption scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft charges. Lynwood Jennet admitted in court Thursday that she helped arrange benefits from Arizona’s Medicaid program for […]
PHOENIX (AP)-An Arizona county won’t decide before Christmas whether to reinstate an elected official who was suspended when he was accused of directing an international human smuggling scheme. A spokesman said Thursday that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is waiting for a final investigative report into Assessor Paul Petersen’s […]
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — The Arizona official who is accused of running an adoption-fraud scheme involving smuggling women from a country in the Pacific asked an Arkansas court to delay his trail for 10 months, arguing the defense has already received hundreds of documents related to charges. Prosecutors say Maricopa County Assessor […]
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An Arizona elected official charged with running an adoption-fraud scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands ran a legal practice and “made happy families,” his attorney said Friday. Paul Petersen, county assessor in the Phoenix area, had long arranged adoptions between women from the Pacific […]
PHOENIX (AP) — The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has scheduled a Dec. 11 hearing for Assessor Paul Petersen to appeal his suspension amid human smuggling and other charges Lawyers for Petersen say the suspension last month was illegal. They say they don’t expect the county supervisors will change their […]
PHOENIX (AP) — A leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says he is “disgusted” by an Arizona elected official and church member accused of running an adoption scheme. Ronald Rasband, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told The Arizona Republic the church leadership has found […]
PHOENIX (AP) — An elected official in metro Phoenix has pleaded not guilty to fraud and theft charges stemming from an alleged human smuggling scheme involving pregnant women from the Marshall Islands who were brought to the U.S. to give birth for adoptions. Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen, who in […]
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — An elected official in Arizona accused of running a human smuggling scheme that brought pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. has pleaded not guilty to federal charges in Arkansas. Authorities say Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen illegally paid the Pacific island women to […]
