Federal judge releases Arizona man accused in adoption smuggling scheme

Paul Petersen | Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge in Arkansas released an Arizona elected official Tuesday accused of running an illegal adoption scheme in three states and smuggling at least 40 pregnant women to Utah from the Marshall Islands.

Paul D. Petersen, 44, had been held in federal custody in Arizona awaiting his first court date in Arkansas, where he faces federal charges of human smuggling, fraud and money laundering.

A U.S. District judge required Petersen to wear a GPS monitor as a condition of his release, according to Utah Attorney General’s Office spokesman Rich Piatt. The judge also imposed other conditions including barring Petersen from working on adoptions, restricting his travel to only Arkansas, Arizona and Utah, and having no contact with witnesses or co-defendants, he said.

Petersen is scheduled to make an initial appearance in a Salt Lake City courtroom Nov. 15.

Last week, a Utah judge reduced Petersen’s bail from $3 million to $150,000 bond only, which Petersen posted before the hearing in Arkansas.

Petersen, the Maricopa County assessor, posted a $500,000 cash bail in Arizona three days after his Oct. 8 arrest. He was then placed into federal custody.

On Monday, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to suspend Petersen.

Utah prosecutors allege Petersen and his associates recruited, transported and offered pregnant Marshallese women $10,000 to place their babies for adoption in Utah over the past three years. He faces 11 felonies in Utah, including human smuggling, sale of a child, communications fraud and pattern of unlawful activity.

In Arizona, prosecutors say he illegally obtaining services from the state’s Medicaid system for the women.

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