AZ GOP Assessor arrested for smuggling pregnant women into US to sell their babies

essentialsaltes · Oct 10, 2019

An Arizona politician ran an adoption fraud scheme that promised pregnant women thousands of dollars to lure them from a Pacific Island nation to the U.S., where they were crammed into houses to wait to give birth, sometimes with little to no prenatal care in what prosecutors called a human smuggling case.

Paul Petersen, the Republican assessor of Arizona's most populous county, was charged in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas with counts including human smuggling, sale of a child, fraud, forgery and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The charges span about three years and involve some 75 adoptions. Investigators also found eight pregnant women from the Marshall Islands in raids of his properties outside Phoenix, and several more are waiting to give birth in Utah, authorities said.

Cimorene · Oct 10, 2019

This isn't in the least bit surprising.

TLK Valentine · Oct 10, 2019

Well, at least he's anti-abortion.

Cimorene · Oct 10, 2019

I'll add that it's not at all surprising but it's still nauseating.

essentialsaltes · Oct 10, 2019

TLK Valentine said:
Well, at least he's anti-abortion.

Babies have immense value... in a free market economy!

essentialsaltes · Oct 10, 2019

Cimorene said:
I'll add that it's not at all surprising but it's still nauseating.

Honestly, I think it's shocking/surprising. But yes, also nauseating.

Cimorene · Oct 10, 2019

essentialsaltes said:
Honestly, I think it's shocking/surprising. But yes, also nauseating.

I joined CF when I was 15, I think I've been prematurely jaded bc of what I've seen here.

Handmaid for Jesus · Oct 10, 2019

Cimorene said:
I joined CF when I was 15, I think I've been prematurely jaded bc of what I've seen here.

I was thinking along these same lines. There was a time in my life when things like this never entered my mind. Now, the horror that can befall children sickens me. There are worse things that happen to children than abortion. I have heard of atrocious things like pedophiles marrying women from other places and getting them pregnant so the men will have children to molest. Unspeakable perversions practiced on children makes you cry. There is no wonder the world is so full of jacked up people.

Nithavela · Oct 10, 2019

Cimorene said:
I joined CF when I was 15, I think I've been prematurely jaded bc of what I've seen here.

CF tends to push people away from many things.

Basil the Great · Oct 10, 2019

No, no.... This cannot be true. What has happened to the "Party of Family Values"? (Don't worry all you Dems out there, your party is no better.)

zephcom · Oct 10, 2019

essentialsaltes said:
An Arizona politician ran an adoption fraud scheme that promised pregnant women thousands of dollars to lure them from a Pacific Island nation to the U.S., where they were crammed into houses to wait to give birth, sometimes with little to no prenatal care in what prosecutors called a human smuggling case.

Paul Petersen, the Republican assessor of Arizona's most populous county, was charged in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas with counts including human smuggling, sale of a child, fraud, forgery and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The charges span about three years and involve some 75 adoptions. Investigators also found eight pregnant women from the Marshall Islands in raids of his properties outside Phoenix, and several more are waiting to give birth in Utah, authorities said.

Republican, huh?

Why am I not surprised.

cow451 · Oct 10, 2019

TLK Valentine said:
Well, at least he's anti-abortion.

Ouch!

essentialsaltes · Dec 2, 2020

Update: 6 years for smuggling illegals and selling babies.

An Arizona man was sentenced to six years behind bars Tuesday for smuggling pregnant women into America as part of an illegal adoption scheme that operated in three states and helped to bankroll his luxurious lifestyle.

Paul Petersen, a Republican former Maricopa County assessor and adoption lawyer, pleaded guilty in June to paying expectant mothers from the Republic of the Marshall Islands—a chain of islands between Hawaii and the Philippines—to have babies in the U.S. and give them up to adoptive families in exchange for thousands of dollars.

Speedwell · Dec 2, 2020

TLK Valentine said:
Well, at least he's anti-abortion.

And none of the women were Central American refugees, so it's OK.

essentialsaltes · Apr 22, 2021

essentialsaltes said:
Update: 6 years for smuggling illegals and selling babies.

Update: A former Arizona politician could serve up to 15 years in prison for operating an illegal adoption scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands after he was given his third sentence today in Utah.

Paul Petersen had already been ordered to serve 11 years in prison in Arizona and Arkansas.

In the scheme, pregnant women were recruited and promised $10,000 in exchange for agreeing to give up their babies in adoption to families in the United States, Utah Assistant Attorney General Daniel Strong said.

Adoptive families paid about $40,000 per adoption only to find they were ensnarled in an unethical and illegal scheme, Strong said.

Pesky federal regulations again prevent America from realizing the paradise of free market capitalism. What could be more American than 'buy low, sell high'?

AZ GOP Assessor arrested for smuggling pregnant women into US to sell their babies

Stranger in a Strange Land

Well-Known Member

I've already read the books you want burned.

Well-Known Member

Stranger in a Strange Land

Stranger in a Strange Land

Well-Known Member

You can't steal my joy

our world is happy and mundane

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Standing with Ukraine.

Stranger in a Strange Land

Well-Known Member

Stranger in a Strange Land

Similar threads