Triplex in adoptions sold
Authorities: Home used in international adoption scheme
A Mesa triplex that officials say Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen used in an international adoption scheme has sold for $475,000.
A Mesa triplex that authorities say was used to house pregnant women in an international adoption scheme sold last month for $475,000.
But embattled Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen, who owned the condo, won’t be pocketing the profits anytime soon.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office says $129,000 in net proceeds from the sale are subject to a seizure order that includes other homes, offices and bank accounts belonging to Petersen and his wife, Raquel “Rocky” Petersen.
Authorities allege Petersen made at least $1,459,578 as part of an illegal adoption scheme he operated for years out of his Mesa law office. They say his assets are subject to forfeiture on charges that include theft, forgery, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
Petersen was indicted in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas of illegally transporting pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S., fraudulently enrolling them for Medicaid and orchestrating adoptions of their children to American families for up to $40,000 each.
8 pregnant women found in triplex
During an Oct. 8 raid, Arizona state troopers found eight pregnant women living in the cramped triplex on Brown Road west of Stapley Drive.
Utah authorities documented a similar scene at a home Petersen owned in West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Prosecutors have asked the court to secure homes owned by Petersen as part of a similar seizure effort there.
Property records show Petersen bought the Mesa triplex through the Petersen Living Trust in 2017 for $390,000 . It sold Dec.15.
Petersen started unloading property in November, when he also put the building housing his law firm and an adoption agency on the market. The office in downtown Mesa went up for sale Nov. 18, a day before Maricopa County
Superior Court Judge Patricia Starr signed the seizure order.
Originally listed for $499,000, the price was cut Nov. 25 to $475,000, according to the online real estate site, Zillow. It remains unsold.
Petersen could not be reached for comment Friday. He can challenge the seizure in court before his property rights are forfeited.
The court order prevents Petersen and his wife from transferring their assets to other individuals or converting them to cash before trial.
Raquel Petersen filed for divorce last month. In a Dec. 9 filing, she sought to end their 13-year marriage and asked for custody of their four children. She claimed in the filing that her husband “without her knowledge and consent, dissipated, wasted, encumbered, transferred, hid, and concealed community funds for his own personal benefit.”
Charged with Medicaid fraud in AZ
In Arizona, Petersen and co-defendant Lynwood Jennet are charged with 32 counts involving Medicaid fraud. Jennet served as Petersen’s liaison for the Marshallese women and lived with them in Mesa.
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office alleges Petersen and Jennet fraudulently registered birth mothers living in Arizona for Medicaid so they could use the state health-care program for lowincome individuals. Adoption contracts show Petersen attempted to use the Medicaid system in other states as well.
Marshallese citizens are not eligible for Medicaid unless they have lived in the U.S. for five years. According to state investigators, Petersen and his associates lied about the residency status of birth mothers so they could illegally access the health-care benefits.
An investigation by The Arizona Republic found Petersen was connected to at least three adoption agencies in Arizona and Colorado.
Petersen’s adoption practice was rooted in his 1998 mission to the Marshall Islands for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A top church official said he was disgusted and sickened by the details of Petersen’s case.
Mothers, babies used as transactions
Contracts, texts, emails and internal documents obtained by The Republic showed Petersen treated birth mothers and their children like monetary transactions.
He moved multiple women in and out of the Mesa and West Valley City homes, took cuts for living expenses out of money he promised birth mothers and made every effort to enroll them in Medicaid
programs.
The Republic’s findings are underscored by text messages investigators working for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors said they recovered from Petersen’s county computer. The texts were made public Dec. 27.
Among those were texts in which Petersen threatened to evict a woman if she backed out of an adoption and another stating: “All you girls work for me, not the other way around.”
The board suspended Petersen in October following his arrest. Because Petersen is elected, the board was barred from permanently removing him from office.
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 law practice.
He was elected assessor in 2014 and again in 2016. His taxpayer-funded salary is about $77,000 per year, but his attendance record is spotty. Records show he used a parking garage reserved for county government workers 53 times from Jan. 1 through Oct. 2, 2019. That’s less than 30% of the available workdays.
Petersen appealed his suspension and the board last month voted last to sustain it. The board also voted to recommended the county attorney pursue Petersen’s removal for willful misconduct while in office.
Petersen’s attorneys, who attempted to negotiate a financial settlement last month in exchange for his resignation, have indicated they may take the supervisors to court.
The court order prevents Petersen and his wife from transferring their assets to other individuals or converting them to cash before trial.