Ex-county assessor sentenced in Utah for adoption scheme

Former Maricopa County Accessor Paul Petersen will serve up to 15 years in prison for crimes connected to an international adoption scheme.

On Wednesday, a Utah judge sentenced Petersen to serve one to 15 years in prison for human smuggling and communications fraud. That sentence will run concurrently with his federal and Arizona sentences.

“Without a doubt, Mr. Petersen, your actions have caused pain,” Judge Linda Jones said.

In December, a U.S. District judge in Arkansas sentenced Petersen to 74 months — just over six years — in federal prison for perpetrating illegal adoptions in what prosecutors called a “getrich-quick scheme ... hidden behind the shiny veneer of a humanitarian operation.”

In Maricopa County, he was sentenced in March on fraud and forgery charges to serve 10.4 years on four charges, but all but five years were to run concurrently with the federal sentence.

That means Petersen will spend between 11-15 years in custody between all these jurisdictions, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

Federal and state authorities accused Petersen of running an illegal adoption scheme, transporting pregnant women from the Republic of the Marshall Islands to the United States, frequently enrolling the women into Medicaid and adopting out the babies to families for nearly $40,000 each.

Daniel Strong, Utah assistant attorney general, told the court multiple mothers were found during the course of the state’s investigation, which started in 2017. He described the process as “manipulative, exploitative and illegal.”

The women told the office they were promised $10,000 to give up their unborn children for adoption, plus transportation to the United States from the Marshall Islands. However, they received little money, inadequate housing and no prenatal care in the United

States, where they were housed in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas.

“This case turned adoption on head,” Strong said.

Many women didn’t understand their rights or what exactly adoption meant, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

Families: ‘Actions were so disturbing’

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In an orange prison uniform, Petersen sat in handcuffs while listening to a victim speak of the pain caused to his family.

Dan Christensen told the court how he and his wife were excited their son would complete their family. But their emotions changed when learning about Petersen’s actions. They were embarrassed and angry.

“Paul’s actions were so disturbing for us,” he said.

Doctors told the family their son didn’t have adequate prenatal care. He has learning difficulties and has needed numerous dental procedures, Christensen said.

“Yes, there was harm that was done by the actions and neglect of Mr. Petersen,” Christensen said.

According to court records, one mother didn’t know her baby had died and had been buried in a Utah cemetery.

Her son was born with a protruding tumor on his neck and a large cystic mass in his abdomen, according to Petersen’s emails. The baby died three months later.

The couple who had hoped to adopt the child said Phoenix Children’s Hospital officials told them that he would have survived if the mom had proper prenatal care.

Citizens of the Marshall Islands, which is located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the Philippines, can travel to the U.S. freely under the Compact of Free Association between the two countries.

In 2003, the compact was amended to forbid women from traveling for adoption purposes.