LDS Apostle Rasband 'Disgusted' By Paul Petersen Adoption Scheme

PHOENIX, AZ ­– Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Apostle Ronald Rasband recently denounced the alleged adoption fraud scheme of LDS church member and Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen. “We’re just as disgusted with it as anybody,” he told The Arizona Republic. “The details of this case are sickening.”

The comment from Rasband, a member of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, is the church’s first official one on the Petersen case, which continues to brim with legal, cultural and political ramifications. The Quorum is the church’s second-highest governing body, often working with the church’s highest-level authorities, the First Presidency.

Rasband also told The Arizona Republic that, “The fact that [Petersen’s] a Latter-day Saint does not exonerate him.”

Though the church’s Family Services branch stepped out of the adoption facilitation ring back in 2014, church spokesperson Doug Andersen said the church never endorsed nor referred couples to the accused Petersen.

“Some [church] adoption workers were advised by their clients that Petersen was facilitating adoptions,” Andersen said. “Family Services was not contacted by Petersen for endorsement, nor did Family Services refer to him. Clients reported their contact was through word of mouth from other couples,” Andersen explained.

Petersen, currently suspended from office, is accused of bringing more than 70 pregnant Marshallese women since 2015 to the United States so they could give birth and he could adopt out their babies, after allegedly applying to put the women on Medicaid after their arrival to pocket up to $40,000 per baby.

In 2003 the Compact of Free Association between the U.S. and the Marshall Islands was changed to prohibit Marshallese women from going to the U.S. for adoption purposes.

In the alleged scheme, Petersen might have been exploiting his knowledge of the culture and his ties in the Marshall Islands from his LDS mission there 20 years ago, church Elder Paul Pieper said.

Along with alleged accomplices, Petersen now faces 19 counts of smuggling, money laundering and conspiracy in Arkansas; 32 counts of Medicare fraud including forgery, theft and conspiracy in Arizona; and 11 human smuggling counts in Utah.

Meanwhile, Andersen says the church will review Petersen’s membership in the church after law enforcement authorities and courts have reached a verdict. “The alleged behavior is not something we condone. Our hearts and prayers go out to those expectant mothers and hopeful adoptive parents. However, this remains a matter for law enforcement and the courts, as this individual was not acting in any way as a church leader or representative.”

Read the full story at azcentral.com.