Mesa-native and 'Family-Guy' Paul D. Peterson has been caught, apprehended and turned over to The Feds for the multiple-charges engaged in human trafficking, that have received the most media attention. However, his elected job as the Maricopa County Assessor poses more latter-day temptations than the $2.7M in his subpoenaed bank records.
Thanks to some very decent investigative reporting recently published two days ago by Arizona Republic news staff Jessica Boehm and Robert Anglen, we now know more details about some of his dealings in real estate:
County supervisors may suspend Paul Petersen after adoption scheme arrest
The following are selected extracts for your informed interest
- > Petersen has been in jail since Oct. 8. And an investigation by The Arizona Republic showed he has spent little time at the Assessor's Office in the past year.
- > Petersen badged into the parking garage for county government workers 53 times from Jan. 1 through Oct. 2, 2019, county records show. That's less than 30% of the available workdays.Most days that he was in the office, he spent about four hours there, records show. Petersen's taxpayer-funded salary is about $77,000 per year.
- > In regards to the human trafficking charges, Petersen has a new attorney, Kurt Altman who said Petersen has no intention of resigning from his elected position.
Altman said the charges against Petersen are allegations, and no evidence has yet been presented in court. . .
"Although sometimes forgotten, our system of criminal justice is still one in which the accused is innocent until proven guilty," he said. "To date, there has been no proof of anything.”
- Petersen's previous attorney Matt Long said earlier this week that it was "troubling" that attorneys and politicians, who have sworn to protect the U.S. Constitution, are calling for Petersen to resign.
"I absolutely agree that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but that's not what we're talking about.
We're not discussing the particulars of the case.
We're focused on the operations of the Assessor's Office moving forward and we're focused on the best interest of the 4.5 million residents of
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OK Here are some new 'revelations' connected with real estate dealings in both Arizona and Utah
Business partner posted bail
> "According to court documents, Petersen has posted his $500,000 bail in Arizona. However, he remains in federal custody, according to the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
- According to court records, Mesa resident Lars Christensen, who has business and real estate ties to Petersen, wired the $500,000 bail on Oct. 11.
- > Christensen's marketing company, Touchpoint Promotions, operated out of the same Mesa address Petersen used for an adoption agency he operated called Adoption Advocate Associates, LLC.
- > Petersen formed the company in 2015 and terminated it in March 2019.
- > Records show the Lars Christensen Trust was the lender for the Utah house authorities says Petersen used in the adoption scheme.
- > Property records show in 2017 that Petersen purchased a home on Florlita Avenue in West Valley City, Utah.
- > Christensen lives in Mesa.
- > He is listed in corporation filings as the director of TBX Express Corp., an interstate freight shipping business with five trucks based on Power Road in Mesa.
- > Christensen and Petersen are also associated with an investment business, corporation records show.
> Christensen did not return repeated phone messages last week or respond to a written request left at his home near Las Sendas Golf Club.
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