Years of making incorrect property classifications led to a class-action judgment that means Maricopa County owes roughly $333 million in return payments to taxpayers.
< Sometimes just one image captured in an alfalfa field here in Mesa can provide a perspective on some behind-the-scenes get-togethers we usually don't get a chance to see...
The Maricopa County Community College District said in a notice of claim that its account is being unjustly and unlawfully raided by the county treasurer to help pay the bill.
The district says the county can’t force it to pay interest accrued during years of litigation, and that the treasurer has prematurely withdrawn about $25 million from the district’s account to help pay for property-tax returns.
Lawyers for MCCCD say the initial cause of the county’s enormous liability is incorrect property classifications that started in 2015, when Paul Petersen was assessor.
Maricopa County is growing fast - some say the fastest growing county in the country and Mesa is the fastest-growing city. . . and it looks like the time is here (and way overdue) for one more major scandal the way things are going now when there's so much temptation from all that fast growth __________________________________________________________________________________
As you can see in "Family-Guy" Maricopa County Assessor Paul D. Petersen's job description in the image above The Assessor notices and administers over 1,7000,000 real and personal property parcels/accounts withFULL CASH VALUE OF MORE THAN $508 Billion in 2018. According to all rosy reports so far for 2019, it is way more than that now - by leaps and bounds and annexing more lands with increasing values. Hard to believe former AZ Governor Jan Brewer said this > (screen-grab from a report by all people The Rose Law Group Reporter
Since the Feds stepped in last week after the Maricopa County Sheriff turned over Petersen into their custody, Board of Supervisor Chairman Bill Gates has unilaterally called for AN INTERNAL AUDIT. An audit of the Assessor’s Office, which he said may be completed in a matter of days.
“We have a fiduciary responsibility as the board of supervisors to the taxpayers of Maricopa County, to all 4.5 million residents in Maricopa County,”
Gates said.
_________________________________________________
OK if that's the case, DO AN INDEPENDENT THIRD-PARTY AUDIT . . .A questionable INTERNAL AUDIT that can get completed in just 'a matter of days' ??? TO INVESTIGATIVE THEMSELVES??? Whoa!
Hold on ---- Gates goes on:
“And so, given the situation the assessor is in right now, it’s important we understand all of our options as a board to make sure that those taxpayers can continue to be protected and provided the customer service that they’re entitled to from Maricopa County.”
To that end, the board is working with new Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel to determine if Petersen, who hasn’t resigned, would be struck from his elected office.
BLOGGER COMMENT: now that's another story to add to all these fast times in Maricopa County for sure! Just how good can all this get!
1. Avoiding High-risk Areas or Quietly Accepting Scope Limitations
2. Ignoring Organizational Culture
3. Failure to Perform Follow-up
4. "Watering Down" Reportable Issues
5. Failure to Provide Adequate Reporting About Internal Audit The board has a duty of care that includes active oversight of the internal audit function. For example, audit committee reports to the board for companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange must include issues involving internal audit performance.
If your audit committee isn't receiving periodic reports about internal audit plans, budgets, staffing requirements, training needs, and quality, don't be surprised if one day the committee asks you, "Why didn't you give us the information we needed to be able to do our jobs?"
Any of these failures can lead to a significant negative impact. Fortunately we can avoid most internal audit "fails" simply by complying with professional standards.
The International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing are designed to protect us from mistakes such as the ones described above by ensuring that the internal audit function is adequately resourced, professionally staffed, and operates at the highest level of quality and integrity. But the Standards can only protect us and our organizations if we use them.
SOME MORE FAMILY CONNECTIONS IN ARIZONA POLITICS PASSED-DOWN
"The Family Guy" :: Sins of The Father David Petersen who was AZ State Treasurer Source: Rose Law Group Reporter By Phil Riske | Senior reporter/writer 11 Oct 2019 " One of the whistle blowers handed me an audio cassette that 13 years ago became a development in the case involving Arizona Treasurer David Petersen. The recorded conversation was a discussion among members of Petersen’s family after he resigned from the state post. . . The recording, which was released along with transcripts by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was part of an ongoing investigation into a $1.9 million payment from the treasurer’s office to the office of Attorney General Terry Goddard.
The transcript of the recorded conversation begins with Petersen asking his son Paul, “Does that mean it’s on, though?” and then stating, “Oh, I see it’s off now.” . . Goddard has denied any sort of deal was struck for the money, which was a payment he said the office was entitled to for helping the state and local governments recover a portion of $131 million lost in investments from National Century Financial Enterprise in 2002. Petersen had pledged to cooperate with the investigation by Arpaio and Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas regarding the payment . . Members of the Board of Investment, which oversees the state’s $10 billion investment portfolio, expressed displeasure upon learning about the payment to the Attorney General’s Office . . "________________________________________________________________________ Audio + excerpts from KJZZ
Maricopa County Board Of Supervisors Orders Audit Of Petersen's Office
". . . With Petersen now in federal custody, he’s obviously unable to perform the duties of the county assessor, responsible for setting property values that determine how much Maricopa County residents and businesses owe in property taxes.
That doesn’t sit well with Board Chairman Bill Gates. - As chairman, Gates also unilaterally ordered an audit of the Assessor’s Office, which he said may be completed in a matter of days.
“We have a fiduciary responsibility as the board of supervisors to the taxpayers of Maricopa County, to all 4.5 million residents in Maricopa County,” Gates said. “And so, given the situation the assessor is in right now, it’s important we understand all of our options as a board to make sure that those taxpayers can continue to be protected and provided the customer service that they’re entitled to from Maricopa County.”
To that end, the board is working with new Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel to determine if Petersen, who hasn’t resigned, would be struck from his elected office. "
> To explain what could happen next, The Show reached out to former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, now an attorney with Ballard Spahr.
"The nonprofit news organization Honolulu Civil Beata year ago published an extensive investigation of Petersen's business, reporting that his adoptions likely violated an international treaty prohibiting Marshallese women from traveling to the U.S. for the purpose of giving birth.
Among Civil Beat's other findings:
> Petersen owns a house in Salt Lake City where up to 10 Marshallese women stay at a time.
> Civil Beat also found that lawyers who facilitate adoptions of babies from Marshallese women to American parents stand to make thousands of dollars per transaction.
> Petersen, who makes $76,606 a year as County Assessor, owns three homes in Arizona and the house in Utah used for lodging Marshallese mothers. > Many of Petersen's customers are Mormon. Petersen, a Republican, was appointed as Maricopa County Assessor in 2013. Voters elected to keep him in the seat in 2016.
Allister Adel, fourth from right, was appointed Maricopa County Attorney by the Board of Supervisors Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019.
Posted
Please take the time to find out more about the work history and background of the new MCC Attorney ....there's not much in the article by Matt Roy
__________________________________________________________________________________ The Rose Law Group Reporterreproduced a report by Jeremy Duda 14 Oct 2019
County supervisors examining options for ousting indicted assessor
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors prepares to go into executive session on Oct. 14, 2019, to discuss indicted county Assessor Paul Petersen.Photo by Jeremy Duda | Arizona MirrorBy Jeremy Duda | Arizona Mirror
The supervisors have called on Petersen to resign his position, as have county Treasurer Royce Flora, Recorder Adrian Fontes and Gov. Doug Ducey. But unless he’s convicted – felons cannot hold state or local office in Arizona – it’s questionable whether he can be forced from office by anything but a recall campaign. Petersen has not communicated with the board, and his attorney did not return a message from theArizona Mirror. __________________________________________________________
". . . In a closed-door executive session that lasted for more than an hour on Monday, the supervisors discussed legal issues with Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel and Tom Liddy, who heads up the office’s civil division. Supervisor Bill Gates, the board’s chairman, said the supervisors are still seeking additional information from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office on whether it has the power to remove Petersen.
“We’re receiving legal advice on that, and we have additional questions as it relates to that. And we look forward to hearing back from the county attorney soon,” Gates said. Gates said the board has also instructed the county’s auditor, Mike McGee, to determine whether Petersen used any public resources as part of his adoption business or the dozens of crimes with which he’s been charged. Fields Mosley, a spokesman for the county, said the board has no indication that county funds were used or mingled with Petersen’s business, but that it ordered the audit out of an abundance of caution.
Maricopa County Supervisors Order Audit Of Assessors Office, Look To Remove Petersen From Office Source: https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2019/10/14 It is alleged that the Marshallese women were not residents of Arizona at the time their AHCCCS applications were submitted and therefore ineligible for state-funded medical benefits. Petersen and Jennet are charged with directing these women to fraudulently misrepresent their residency status in order to obtain AHCCCS benefits.
That's only one side of his double-life that makes a mockery of the much asserted commitment to "Family-Values" here in Mesa.
Here's just one update and follow-up
12 Years of Smuggling Women and Selling Their Babies Only Got This Guy 6 Years in Prison
Paul Petersen organized the pregnant women's flights into Arkansas, Arizona, or Utah, where they'd stay with other pregnant Marshallese women at a home he financed
". . .An Arizona adoption attorney who spent 12 years smuggling pregnant women into the U.S. and then selling their babies at a hefty profit has been sentenced to more than six years in federal prison and fined over $100,000.
On Tuesday, 45-year-old Paul Petersen received the first of what’s likely to be three different sentences from a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas in connection to the adoption scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Petersen was arrested in connection to the scheme in October 2019. At the time, he was an assessor for Maricopa County, but he resigned from that post in January 2020 and then pleaded guilty in June.
"He subverted what should be a joyous time for everyone into a baby-selling enterprise,” District Judge Timothy L. Brooks said Tuesday, according to USA Today. “The conduct Mr. Petersen engaged in violates public policy. We don't sell babies. That is the public policy of the United States of America."
For more than a decade, Petersen was able to operate his scheme by building a network of women who kept in touch with a co-conspirator in the Republic of Marshall Islands, according to USA Today. . .While the women stayed in the U.S., Petersen worked to falsify documents about their stay in the U.S. in order to secure Medicaid to cover the expenses of the child’s birth. Petersen would also confiscate the women’s passports to ensure they’d go through with the scheme, according to the Washington Post. . .
This is not the last court appearance for Petersen. The disgraced lawyer pleaded guilty in Arizona and Utah back in June and is awaiting sentencing in both states. He will have 14 days to appeal the sentence, according to USA Today.
< Here's the almost 'picture-perfect' portrayal usually put out there for public consumption by politicians or officials here in Mesa and Maricopa County - everything is happy, Happy husband with a good job, happy wife, two or more (3,4,5,6,7+) happy children, happy sun-dappled day with a golden glow all over. Life is good. Everything is wonderful - just looks great to create that clear veneer of credibility."Mesa is a great place to raise a family and to live, work and play".
Happy days are here again! ....What more could anyone want? Apparently Paul Petersen, elected as the Maricopa County Assessor, wanted more than his public day job - one of the most coveted positions responsible for over $500M in personal property and real estate valuations in a county that is no stranger to land fraud.
Petersen didn't get snagged for anything in that ripe field of schemes that's toppled so many politicians here, at least not yet. Most of the time it's somehow 'over-looked', conveniently with eyes cast-aside, deniable condoned or generally accepted as just the way we do business. No questions asked. Everybody gets their cut one way or another.
< Here's just one screen-grab flashed all over local, national and international news scoops showing a raid on his private $600,000 Mesa home - and here's the public fall-out with some background thrown in where it all started. . . and then there's the question almost all the time, Why is the almost constant connection here in Mesa and Maricopa County in Arizona and the state of Utah?
Always that smile!
"Republican Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Petersen should resign from his elected position determining the taxable value for propertiesin Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix and its suburbs. . . Petersen served a two-year mission in the Marshall Islands for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes eyes said. He was later recruited by an international adoption agency while in law school because of his fluency in Marshallese, according to a 2013 Phoenix Business Journal story. Paul Petersen, the Republican assessor of Arizona’s most populous county, was charged in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas with counts including human smuggling, sale of a child,fraud, forgery and conspiracy to commit money laundering. __________________________________________________________
Always that smile!
BLOGGER NOTE: Any reasonable person might ask where might Paul Petersen be more tempted for personal financial gains - if he didn't get caught - than the $2,700,000 for 75 adotions earned from his private adoption attorney practice. < Take a look at the cash value involved in his duties as public official;: $508 B ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ...but let's get back to what's grabbing all the public's attention when other things don't get looked at, at least for what's investigated now in the commission of crimes at the present time.
“The commoditization of children is simply evil,” said Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes. The adoptive parents are considered victims along with the birth mothers, and no completed adoptions will be undone, authorities said The charges span about three years and involve some 75 adoptions. Investigators also found eight pregnant women from the Marshall Islands in raids of his properties outside Phoenix, and several more are waiting to give birth in Utah, authorities said. . .
Petersen charged families $25,000-$40,000 per adoption and brought about $2.7 million into a bank account for adoption fees in less than two years, according to court documents. Petersen’s Mesa, Arizona, home is worth more than $600,000 and located in an affluent, gated community.
This case gets more suspicious and more intriguing all the time! Does the new County Attorney look up to the new responsibilities now thrown at her? It sure doesn't look like it in the opening image cropped from her swearing-in ceremony with Steve Chucri looking over her shoulders in the background. Her own expression doesn't appear to exude any confidence, but rather a restrained sense of purpose after she got propelled into the position when former county attorney Bill Montgomery resigned to gain a seat on the Arizona Supreme Court. Arizona politics at its best!
O Lordy!! This case is getting more suspicious all the time ... there are now more "revelations" brought into the light of public scrutiny that appears be missing on salient data and details and the skewed focus of media attention. Last Friday reports were in that Paul Petersen's county-owned Microsoft Surface Pro notebook had been 'wiped-clean' of data not just once but on two occasions - in the office!
In a sprawling county where Rampant Unrestrained Real Estate Speculation is King - and the Main Driver of The Economic Engine - attention has instead turned to the allegations of private for-profit adoptions by Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen whose public office [daytime job] is responsible for valuations and recordings exceeding over $508,000,000,000 in transactions.
Media reporting have somehow stayed clear of the 'Big Elephant' and the BIG TEMPTATION that runs with getting appointed and elected to the office of the Maricopa County Assessor's Office. There's just too much at stake . . .but let's leave that to another day.
The Arizona Auditor General says the state Department of Housing wired $2 million to fraudsters because state officials did not have a policy to prevent scams. The gaffe is part of a new report saying the Housing Department can’t evaluate its own work on affordable housing despite a spending commitment of more than a billion dollars.
Attorney General Kris Mayes filed an amended complaint in the state’s ongoing lawsuit against Heritage Village Assisted Living, adding racketeering claims.
She’s also asking the court to take over two other assisted living facilities controlled by the owners of Heritage Village.
The AG's Office alleges that more than $2.9 million was diverted from operating accounts at the behest of the owners. Those funds were supposed to be used to pay for the care of residents. Instead, it was used to pay debts for other properties.
The investigation also found that the insurance policy was canceled after the owners failed to pay the premiums.
The owners also appeared to move money and supplies between Heritage Village and facilities in other states, all without proper documentation.
The idea of the executive branch going over the heads of Republican lawmakers and unilaterally establishing an AMA around one of Arizona’s rural basins is anathema to Republicans like Rep. Gail Griffin (R-Hereford), Sen. Sine Kerr (R-Buckeye) and Dunn, who represent rural Arizona and the agriculture industry. But it exists as a nuclear option for Hobbs by way of ADWR. . .LINK > KJZZ 02 Oct 2024
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Lawyers for MCCCD say the initial cause of the county’s enormous liability is incorrect property classifications that started in 2015, when Paul Petersen was assessor.
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17 October 2019
Maricopa County is growing fast - some say the fastest growing county in the country and Mesa is the fastest-growing city. . . and it looks like the time is here (and way overdue) for one more major scandal the way things are going now when there's so much temptation from all that fast growth 
As you can see in "Family-Guy" Maricopa County Assessor Paul D. Petersen's job description in the image above The Assessor notices and administers over 1,7000,000 real and personal property parcels/accounts with FULL CASH VALUE OF MORE THAN $508 Billion in 2018. According to all rosy reports so far for 2019, it is way more than that now - by leaps and bounds and annexing more lands with increasing values.
Since the Feds stepped in last week after the Maricopa County Sheriff turned over Petersen into their custody, Board of Supervisor Chairman Bill Gates has unilaterally called for AN INTERNAL AUDIT.
“And so, given the situation the assessor is in right now, it’s important we understand all of our options as a board to make sure that those taxpayers can continue to be protected and provided the customer service that they’re entitled to from Maricopa County.”To that end, the board is working with new Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel to determine if Petersen, who hasn’t resigned, would be struck from his elected office.BLOGGER COMMENT: now that's another story to add to all these fast times in Maricopa County for sure! Just how good can all this get!_________________________________________________________________________FOR THE INTEREST OF READERS OF THIS BLOG:
5 Ways Internal Audit Can Fail to Adequately Serve Its OrganizationRichard ChambersFebruary 11, 2019Source : https://iaonline.theiia.org 1. Avoiding High-risk Areas or Quietly Accepting Scope Limitations2. Ignoring Organizational Culture3. Failure to Perform Follow-up4. "Watering Down" Reportable Issues5. Failure to Provide Adequate Reporting About Internal Audit
The International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing are designed to protect us from mistakes such as the ones described above by ensuring that the internal audit function is adequately resourced, professionally staffed, and operates at the highest level of quality and integrity. But the Standards can only protect us and our organizations if we use them.__________________________________________________________________________________SOME MORE FAMILY CONNECTIONS IN ARIZONA POLITICS PASSED-DOWN"The Family Guy" :: Sins of The Father David Petersen who was AZ State Treasurer
That doesn’t sit well with Board Chairman Bill Gates. - As chairman, Gates also unilaterally ordered an audit of the Assessor’s Office, which he said may be completed in a matter of days.“We have a fiduciary responsibility as the board of supervisors to the taxpayers of Maricopa County, to all 4.5 million residents in Maricopa County,” Gates said. “And so, given the situation the assessor is in right now, it’s important we understand all of our options as a board to make sure that those taxpayers can continue to be protected and provided the customer service that they’re entitled to from Maricopa County.”To that end, the board is working with new Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel to determine if Petersen, who hasn’t resigned, would be struck from his elected office. "> To explain what could happen next, The Show reached out to former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, now an attorney with Ballard Spahr.More Stories From KJZZUploaded by: azfamily powered by 3TV & CBS5AZ,Oct 14, 2019
The supervisors have called on Petersen to resign his position, as have county Treasurer Royce Flora, Recorder Adrian Fontes and Gov. Doug Ducey.
". . . In a closed-door executive session that lasted for more than an hour on Monday, the supervisors discussed legal issues with Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel and Tom Liddy, who heads up the office’s civil division. Supervisor Bill Gates, the board’s chairman, said the supervisors are still seeking additional information from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office on whether it has the power to remove Petersen.
“We’re receiving legal advice on that, and we have additional questions as it relates to that. And we look forward to hearing back from the county attorney soon,” Gates said.
04 December 2020
Since the Feds stepped in last week after the Maricopa County Sheriff turned over Petersen into their custody, Board of Supervisor Chairman Bill Gates has unilaterally called for AN INTERNAL AUDIT.
The International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing are designed to protect us from mistakes such as the ones described above by ensuring that the internal audit function is adequately resourced, professionally staffed, and operates at the highest level of quality and integrity. But the Standards can only protect us and our organizations if we use them.
< Here's the almost 'picture-perfect' portrayal usually put out there for public consumption by politicians or officials here in Mesa and Maricopa County - everything is happy, Happy husband with a good job, happy wife, two or more (3,4,5,6,7+) happy children, happy sun-dappled day with a golden glow all over. Life is good. Everything is wonderful - just looks great to create that clear veneer of credibility. "Mesa is a great place to raise a family and to live, work and play".
Petersen didn't get snagged for anything in that ripe field of schemes that's toppled so many politicians here, at least not yet. Most of the time it's somehow 'over-looked', conveniently with eyes cast-aside, deniable condoned or generally accepted as just the way we do business. No questions asked. Everybody gets their cut one way or another. 
< Here's just one screen-grab flashed all over local, national and international news scoops showing a raid on his private $600,000 Mesa home - and here's the public fall-out with some background thrown in where it all started. . . and then there's the question almost all the time, Why is the almost constant connection here in Mesa and Maricopa County in Arizona and the state of Utah? 
“The commoditization of children is simply evil,” said Utah Attorney General Sean D. Reyes.
Petersen charged families $25,000-$40,000 per adoption and brought about $2.7 million into a bank account for adoption fees in less than two years, according to court documents.
This case gets more suspicious and more intriguing all the time! Does the new County Attorney look up to the new responsibilities now thrown at her? It sure doesn't look like it in the opening image cropped from her swearing-in ceremony with Steve Chucri looking over her shoulders in the background. Her own expression doesn't appear to exude any confidence, but rather a restrained sense of purpose after she got propelled into the position when former county attorney Bill Montgomery resigned to gain a seat on the Arizona Supreme Court. Arizona politics at its best!
O Lordy!! This case is getting more suspicious all the time ... there are now more "revelations" brought into the light of public scrutiny that appears be missing on salient data and details and the skewed focus of media attention.
In a sprawling county where Rampant Unrestrained Real Estate Speculation is King - and the Main Driver of The Economic Engine - attention has instead turned to the allegations of private for-profit adoptions by Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen whose public office [daytime job] is responsible for valuations and recordings exceeding over $508,000,000,000 in transactions.
Media reporting have somehow stayed clear of the 'Big Elephant' and the BIG TEMPTATION that runs with getting appointed and elected to the office of the Maricopa County Assessor's Office.
Petersen didn't get snagged for anything in that ripe field of schemes that's toppled so many politicians here, at least not yet. Most of the time it's somehow 'over-looked', conveniently with eyes cast-aside, deniable condoned or generally accepted as just the way we do business. No questions asked. Everybody gets their cut one way or another. 
< Here's just one screen-grab flashed all over local, national and international news scoops showing a raid on his private $600,000 Mesa home - and here's the public fall-out with some background thrown in where it all started. . . and then there's the question almost all the time, Why is the almost constant connection here in Mesa and Maricopa County in Arizona and the state of Utah? 
This case gets more suspicious and more intriguing all the time! Does the new County Attorney look up to the new responsibilities now thrown at her? It sure doesn't look like it in the opening image cropped from her swearing-in ceremony with Steve Chucri looking over her shoulders in the background. Her own expression doesn't appear to exude any confidence, but rather a restrained sense of purpose after she got propelled into the position when former county attorney Bill Montgomery resigned to gain a seat on the Arizona Supreme Court. Arizona politics at its best!
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