Claiming misuse of funds, wife seeks divorce from Petersen
Suspended Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen’s wife, Raquel Petersen, has filed for divorce, claiming her husband secretly used their joint money “for his own personal benefit,” according to court documents.
She alleges that Paul Petersen, “without her knowledge and consent, dissipated, wasted, encumbered, transferred, hid, and concealed community funds for his own personal benefit,” according to a petition for dissolution of the marriage filed in Maricopa County Family Court earlier this month.
Paul Petersen is currently facing felony charges in three states over an alleged adoption scheme that brought Marshallese women to the U.S. in order to place their children for adoption. He was found in October housing eight Marshallese women in his home.
He is also accused of helping the Marshallese women illegally use the state’s Medicaid system, and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich alleges those costs add up to over $800,000.
It is illegal for Marshallese women to travel to the U.S. for the purpose of adoption. Petersen has plead not guilty to all charges.
Paul Petersen’s assets were frozen in a $1.5 million seizure warrant in November. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge gave the green light for authorities to seize Petersen’s office building, vehicles, his Mesa home, his family’s vacation home, four properties he owned in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas and to freeze 11 personal and business bank accounts.
Raquel Petersen seeks custody of 4 kids
Raquel Petersen is seeking custody of their four children, who range from 3 to 11 years old, as well as child support and spousal maintenance.
“The marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken and without a reasonable prospect of reconciliation,” the document says.
She is not changing her name at this time, according the document. The couple has been married for 13 years.
Paul Petersen challenges filing
In his response to the filing, Paul Petersen declined to give up custody or pay spousal maintenance, and denied her allegations of hiding and misusing assets.
Those accusations and requests, he claims in the filing, are “either (1) incorrect, (2) misrepresentations of facts, or (3) disputed.”
The Arizona Republic called Paul Petersen for comment, and he responded in a text that “divorce is a private matter and therefore I will not be commenting further.”
In a separate court filing, Raquel Petersen requests that the court seal their divorce case because Paul Petersen’s pending criminal charges “are being sensationalized by the news media.”
Her concern is that “this sensationalism will spill over into this current case and negatively impact the children,” according to the document.
Paul Petersen was suspended by the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in late October for “neglect of duty,” and his suspension will last 120 days, the maximum given out by the board.