Maricopa County upholds Petersen’s suspension, moves to have him ousted

PHOENIX – The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on Friday upheld the suspension of Assessor Paul Petersen, who faces charges of human smuggling related to an alleged adoption scheme, and moved to have him removed from his elected office.

The board also used the special meeting to disclose “shocking” and “disturbing” messages in which Petersen threatened parents whose babies he was trying to adopt out.

The messages were part of a supplemental report on the board’s investigation into whether Petersen had been fulfilling his duties overseeing the office that determines the value of Phoenix-area properties for tax purposes.

After each supervisor expressed disgust with Petersen’s behavior, the board unanimously voted to uphold their Oct. 28 decision to suspend Petersen without pay from his $77,000-a-year position for 120 days.

A second motion, in which the board recommended the county attorney to pursue Petersen’s removal “for willful misconduct in office,” also passed unanimously.

Chairman Bill Gates said the initial and supplemental reports on Petersen’s conduct supported a finding of neglect of duty and willful misconduct.

He revealed that investigators found that Petersen’s county-issued laptop had been wiped clean twice before it was turned over.

“And now, based upon this supplemental report, we know what sort of communications were on that computer,” Gates said. “These were shocking text messages.”

Investigators were able to recover more than 2,000 documents related to Petersen’s private adoption practice despite efforts to wipe the computer, Gates said. They also found evidence of web searches on how to delete data from a computer.

The documents included screenshots of messages in which Petersen threatened to have women evicted for changing their minds about giving up their babies, Gates said.

There were also messages threatening a father with losing his parental rights if he didn’t sign adoption papers and another saying “all you girls work for me, not the other way around,” Gates said.

“To say that the information in this supplemental report is disturbing to all of us on the board is certainly an understatement,” Gates said.

Petersen lodged an appeal to his suspension Nov. 7, and it was heard Dec. 11. His lawyers had argued that investigators’ preliminary report said Petersen had successfully fulfilled his duties, making the basis of his suspension invalid.

The county and Petersen have held negotiations for him to step down, but no agreement has been reached.

The Board of Supervisors and other officials, including Gov. Doug Ducey, started calling for Petersen’s resignation following his Oct. 8 arrest on 62 charges in Arizona, Arkansas and Utah.

He was accused of recruiting, transporting and offering to pay dozens of pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to adopt out their babies in the United States.

On Nov. 5, he pleaded not guilty to 32 fraud charges in Arizona, where he is accused of falsely claiming the women were Arizona residents to get them health care coverage, bilking the state’s Medicaid system out of more than $800,000.

He’s since pleaded not guilty to 19 federal charges in Arkansas related to the alleged baby-selling scheme. He also faces 11 related charges in Utah but has not yet entered a plea there.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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