PHOENIX (AP) — A former Arizona politician must report to prison by midday Thursday to begin serving the first of what will be three sentences stemming from an illegal adoption scheme he acknowledged running in three U.S. states involving pregnant women from the Marshall Islands. Paul Petersen, a Republican who served as […]
PHOENIX (AP) — A former Arizona politician who admitted running an illegal adoption scheme in three states involving women from the Marshall Islands was sentenced in Arkansas to six years in federal prison. It was the first of three punishments he’ll face for arranging adoptions prohibited by an international compact. […]
PHOENIX (AP) — U.S. prosecutors in Arkansas will seek a 10-year prison sentence for a former Arizona politician who acknowledged running an illegal adoption scheme in three states involving women from the Marshall Islands. Prosecutors say Paul Petersen defrauded state courts, violated an international adoption compact and took advantage of mothers and adoptive families […]
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)-An Arizona elected official has resigned amid charges he paid women from the Marshall Islands to give up their children for adoption in the U.S. Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen’s resignation Tuesday came after county leaders suspended him. Petersen has been charged with illegally paying women to come to […]
PHOENIX (AP)-The Board of Supervisors for Arizona’s largest county has unanimously agreed to uphold the suspension and push for the removal of the county assessor, who is charged in a wide-ranging adoption scheme. The Maricopa County Attorney is to now start the process of removing Paul Petersen, who was arrested […]
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 […]
PHOENIX (AP)-An Arizona elected official accused of paying women from a poor Pacific island nation to give their babies up for adoption in the United States made an appeal Wednesday to keep his job. Lawyers for Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen told the county Board of Supervisors that he did […]
PHOENIX (AP)-Investigators have found no evidence an Arizona official neglected his duties after he was charged with running an adoption-fraud scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands. The Arizona Capitol Times reported Thursday that the investigators have said it is up to county supervisors to determine if Maricopa County Assessor […]
