An Arizona elected official has been suspended without pay after being charged with running a human smuggling operation involving more than 40 pregnant women from the Marshall Islands, the Associated Press reports.
Maricopa County assessor Paul Petersen on Monday was suspended from his position for 120 days, but the county reportedly doesn’t have the authority to fire him from the role — even though he’ll soon be on trial for allegedly being the mastermind behind an international adoption scheme that authorities say went on for three years.
Petersen recruited pregnant women from the Marshall Islands, arranged for them to fly to Utah — where he owns a home outside Salt Lake City — and matched them with adoptive families, according to the indictment against him obtained by the Arizona Republic. He allegedly charged families $25,000 to $40,000 per adoption.
Petersen was charged earlier this month in Utah and Arizona, and indicted in Arkansas, for a litany of crimes, including human smuggling, sale of a child, forgery, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the AP.
“While Mr. Petersen is entitled to a presumption of innocence, our investigation uncovered evidence that he has committed horrible crimes,” the Utah Attorney General’s office said in a statement. “Petersen's illegal adoption scheme exploited highly vulnerable groups in two countries — the birth mothers and families in the Marshall Islands and the adoptive parents here in Utah.”
After an audit of Petersen’s office, county supervisors said he used his work computer — which he wasn’t supposed to use for personal work — to conduct his adoption business. He also made several calls from his county-provided desk phone and cell phone to Arkansas, Jamaica, and the Philippines, the audit found.
Despite the allegations, Petersen is reportedly trying to hang onto his job. He has refused to resign despite being in federal custody since early October. Petersen’s lawyer told the Associated Press he’ll fight to keep his job, and that the law that allowed Petersen to be suspended without pay may be unconstitutional.
Cover: In this Oct. 9, 2019, file photo, a Utah home that was owned by an Arizona elected official charged with human smuggling in an adoption fraud scheme is shown in West Valley City, Utah. Authorities say Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen used homes like this one to lodge pregnant women from Marshall Islands who were offered money to come to the U.S. to give up their children for adoption. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
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