ARRAIGNMENT
Petersen appears in Maricopa County court
Suspended Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Suspended Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen pleaded not guilty during his first Arizona court appearance Tuesday morning.
Petersen faces 32 felony charges in Maricopa County Superior Court related to allegations that he operated an illegal international adoption scheme.
Prosecutors say Petersen, in his private-sector career as an adoption attorney, illegally arranged for pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to fly to the U.S. to deliver their babies. They allege Petersen fraudulently registered the women for the state’s Medicaid system and then arranged the adoptions of their children for up to $40,000.
The charges he faces in Arizona relate to the alleged Medicaid fraud. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office alleges Petersen bilked the state’s low-cost health care system out of more than $800,000.
Petersen also faces federal fraud charges in Arkansas and human smuggling charges in Utah. He was arraigned in Arkan
sas last week and released on a
$100,000 bond.
After his scheduled court appearance in Maricopa County Superior Court on Tuesday, he is expected to travel to Utah where he is to appear in court on Nov. 15.
His next court dates in Arizona and Arkansas are scheduled for December, but Petersen’s attorney Kurt Altman said those dates could shift.
Petersen would not speak to reporters following his court appearance.
Petersen will appeal suspension
Petersen has hired prominent conservative political attorney Kory Langhofer to challenge his suspension as Maricopa County Assessor.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors suspended Petersen from his government job without pay last week.
Langhofer said he believes the board acted unconstitutionally.
He said the allegations Petersen faces in court have nothing to do with his performance as assessor, and it was inappropriate for the board to base its suspension decision on allegations that have yet to be proven.
“No one is saying that Paul Petersen didn’t do his job as county assessor very well. Everyone agrees he did the job he should have. That’s not the issue at all,” Langhofer said.
He said that the board, which consists of five elected officials, is not permitted under the state’s constitution to remove another elected official.
“They can’t just have a meeting one day and throw him out. Constitutionally,
Paul Petersen and the board are equals,” Langhofer said.
Langhofer said he will try to resolve this issue with the board outside of court, but will file a lawsuit if necessary.
Petersen has worked at the Assessor’s Office since 2006. He served as the agency’s public information officer and lobbyist at the same time he operated his adoption law practice.
He was elected assessor in 2014 and again in 2016. His taxpayer-funded salary is about $77,000 per year.
County parking records obtained by The Arizona Republic show he used a garage reserved for county government workers 53 times from Jan. 1 through Oct. 2, 2019. That’s less than 30% of the available workdays.
On each of those days, he spent an average of four hours in the office.
An audit ordered by the supervisors last month found Petersen spent much of his days at work conducting adoption business.
The audit found thousands of documents related to his private-sector work on his county-issued computer. It also found emails, website visits and international calls likely related to his adoption work.