The party of projection strikes again, with a Republican official from Phoenix found guilty of human trafficking and "baby selling." Where is the outrage from QAnon "believers" now?
For an average of $30,000 and $40,000, Arizona-based lawyer Paul Petersen offered his clients a full-service adoption of babies from the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The money, he assured, would go toward legal fees, the mother’s medical expenses, rent, food and doctor’s visits.
But in reality, federal prosecutors learned, Petersen used a portion of the money to smuggle dozens of pregnant Marshallese women in to the United States and offered them $10,000 once the baby was born. In June, Petersen, 45, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit human smuggling in Arkansas and made similar guilty pleas in Arizona and Utah, where he was also licensed to practice law and also carried out the schemes.
On Tuesday, a federal judge in the Western District of Arkansas sentenced Petersen to six years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a fine of over $100,000. He awaits sentencing in Utah and Arizona.For an average of $30,000 and $40,000, Arizona-based lawyer Paul Petersen offered his clients a full-service adoption of babies from the Republic of the Marshall Islands.
For more than 12 years, Petersen, a Republican who served as the assessor for Maricopa County, Ariz., trafficked dozens of pregnant women from the Marshall Islands for the adoptions, according to court documents, an illegal action given a 1983 compact between the country and the United States that forbids Marshallese people to travel for the purpose of adoptions.
Petersen used the funds from the illegal scheme to finance a lavish lifestyle, according to court documents. He lived in a large house in a gated neighborhood in Mesa, Ariz., had multiple vacation homes, took frequent trips to California and New York, and bought luxury cars.
“He subverted what should be a joyous time for everyone into a baby-selling enterprise,” U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks said at the virtual hearing on Tuesday, USA Today reported. “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.”
