Suspended Paul Petersen Fights Maricopa County To Get Job Back

PHOENIX, AZ — After being suspended by county officials last month in the wake of an alleged adoption fraud scandal, Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen is appealing his suspension. Adoption attorney Petersen faces dozens of felony charges in Arizona, Arkansas and Utah related to human smuggling and fraud when he allegedly brought pregnant Marshallese women to the United States, fraudulently applied for them to go on Medicaid, then pocketed up to $40,000 per baby after arranging the adoptions. Azcentral.com reported that Petersen is also charged with breaking an international anti-exploitation treaty prohibiting Marshallese women from coming to the U.S. to have their babies.

To fight the suspension, Petersen hired well-known GOP attorney Kory Langhofer, who sent a four-page letter to the county’s newly appointed attorney Allister Adel. In the letter, Langhofer asks Adel to mandate testimonies at Petersen’s hearing from Maricopa County officials including herself, all county supervisors, Assistant Maricopa County Attorney Thomas Liddy, county spokesman Fields Moseley, Assistant Chief Deputy Assessor Lesley Kratz, Chief Deputy Assessor Timothy Boncoskey, Sheriff Paul Penzone, Recorder Adrian Fontes and Treasurer Royce Flora.

Langhofer also requested several records and documents such as any referring or related to Petersen from Oct. 9 to Nov. 12, parking records of other county officials, computer hard drive copies and cell phone use records, among others. The attorney also gives the county officials an “out” to avoid gathering all his requested information, if they would rather stipulate to certain “facts” set forth by Langhofer; those include that other county officials don’t often put in 40 hours a week either, that they receive or send emails and access websites having nothing to do with county work during work hours, that their main reason behind the suspension related to allegations surrounding Petersen's law practice and that Petersen was not neglectful nor did he break any law in his job as assessor.

Moseley said that a suspension appeal hearing will be scheduled “in the near future.”

Read the full story at azcentral.com.

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