An Arizona county won’t decide before Christmas whether to reinstate an elected official who was suspended when he was accused of directing an international human smuggling scheme. A spokesman said Thursday that the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is waiting for a final investigative report into Assessor Paul Petersen’s handling […]
Investigators have found no evidence an Arizona official neglected his duties after he was charged with running an adoption-fraud scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands. The Arizona Capitol Times reported Thursday that the investigators have said it is up to county supervisors to determine if Maricopa County Assessor Paul […]
PHOENIX (AP) — A leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says he is “disgusted” by an Arizona elected official and church member accused of running an adoption scheme. Ronald Rasband, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told The Arizona Republic the church leadership […]
PHOENIX (AP) — An elected official in metro Phoenix has pleaded not guilty to fraud and theft charges stemming from an alleged human smuggling scheme involving pregnant women from the Marshall Islands who were brought to the U.S. to give birth for adoptions. Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen, who in […]
PHOENIX (AP) — The governing board in Arizona’s most populous county has suspended an elected official accused of running a human smuggling scheme involving pregnant women from the Marshall Islands brought to the U.S. to give birth for adoptions. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Monday to suspend […]
CHINLE, Ariz. (AP) — The Navajo Division of Transportation has closed Chinle Airport runway until further notice due to existing asphalt deterioration. Authorities say the division’s Road Maintenance and Airports Management departments assessed the Chinle Community Airport on Monday. They say the assessment indicated that the south end of the […]
PHOENIX (AP) — A lawyer for an Arizona elected official charged in three states with facilitating an illegal international adoption scheme says prosecutors have miscast his client as a human smuggler. Attorney Matt Long said Tuesday Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen cares deeply for the birth mothers from the Marshall […]
PHOENIX (AP) — Officials in three states say they will not try to undo or interfere with dozens of adoptions done as part of a human smuggling scheme that led to charges against an Arizona county assessor. Prosecutors in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas said Wednesday that they consider the adoptive […]
PHOENIX (AP) — The assessor of Arizona’s largest county has been indicted in an adoption fraud scheme. The Arizona Republic reports the Arizona Attorney General’s Office has confirmed the 32-count federal indictment Tuesday against Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen for conspiracy, theft, forgery and 29 counts of fraudulent schemes. Authorities […]
CORTEZ, Colo. (AP) — Finland has agreed to return to Native American tribes ancestral remains and artifacts taken more than a century ago from what is now Mesa Verde National Park in the Southwest United States. The White House announced the agreement during a news conference in Washington on Wednesday. […]
