< Here's Mesa native Paul Petersen in a typical squeaky-clean image used by elected leaders here in 'family-values oriented" Mesa and Maricopa County - almost the perfect image of "The Family Guy" except for one thing. What you see is a charade appearing on-the-surface at the same time looming behind it all a massive fraud scheme to enrich himself at the same time holding public office. However there is a surprising difference in the usual political play-book that all too frequently goes un-noticed or over-looked or simply ignored: He's taken that to the next level - and he's gotten caught! It was splashed all over the evening news last night, coming like a shock and surprise to many, but scandals in Arizona and Maricopa County are long overdue: his job was in the County Assessors Office.
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Petersen's apprehension and indictment was not only local news-it went national real fast! Here's the headline and image from The Washington Post:
Adoption lawyer smuggled pregnant women into the U.S. and paid them to give up their babies, authorities say
"One of Arizona’s county assessors was indicted Tuesday night in his alleged role in an adoption fraud scheme.
Paul Petersen, assessor for Maricopa County, was arrested Tuesday night on charges of running an adoption fraud scheme in Arizona, according to an indictment obtained by the Arizona Republic.
Petersen, an adoption lawyer licensed in Arizona and Utah, is facing similar charges in Utah, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
The 32-count indictment filed in the Superior Court of Arizona alleges Petersen committed conspiracy, fraud and forgery. . . Subpoenaed bank records show that Petersen pocketed more than $2.7 million between December 2016 and Sept. 28, 2019, . .
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a news conference that Petersen cost Arizona taxpayers more than $800,000 by committing fraud in its Medicaid system.
Petersen is also facing adoption fraud charges in Arkansas, Brnovich said. . .
> Petersen was first elected to the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office in 2014 and was reelected in 2016.
> Maricopa County is the nation’s fourth-most-populous county.
> Its 4.4 million residents make up more than half of Arizona’s population.
> The father of four has been working with families seeking to adopt for almost 15 years.
> The fifth-generation Arizonan is also an active member of the Maricopa County Republican Party and the Arizona Republican Party.
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WHOA! There's way more to this story and plenty to meet-the-eye:
The pregnant women lived in a housing complex here in Mesa
Just like an earlier case in Colorado City, Arizona where the FBI and Department of Justice moved in to crack-down welfare fraud in a Fundamental LDS-controlled town.
An alarm was first raised by a woman from Utah
Just go ahead > Google "Maricopa County Assessor"
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Let's go there first to the job where Petersen gained the public trust to get elected here in Maricopa County and the City of Mesa - both are now "the fastest-growing in the country," with real estate and personal property valuations sky-rocketing to a cash value of more than $508 Billion in 2018. There could be a whole lot of temptation right there . . .
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Along the way Petersen picked up some awards and got some glowing write-ups. For example, this Executive Profile published in The Phoenix Business Journal 2013 : Executive Inc: Paul Petersen takes the court as Maricopa County Assessor where it starts off "When opportunity knocks, Paul Petersen believes in swinging the door wide open — which is exactly what he did this past summer.
Here's in a different court now
