Alleged Human Trafficking Adoption Scheme

A co-defendant in an alleged human smuggling operation told police that a prostitution camp in the Marshall Islands provided many of the pregnant women involved in former Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen's allegedly illegal adoption business.

Cook replaces Paul Petersen who's accused of running a human smuggling operation that paid pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to give up their babies in the United States.

Maricopa County is moving closer to selecting a new assessor who will serve out the remainder of Paul Petersen's term.

Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen, who is accused of running a human smuggling operation that paid pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to give up their babies in the U.S., has resigned from his position.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has voted to uphold Assessor Paul Petersen's suspension, who's accused of directing an international human smuggling scheme.

A woman accused of aiding a politician in metro Phoenix in what authorities say was an illegal adoption scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and theft charges.

An Arizona county won't decide before Christmas whether to reinstate an elected official who was suspended when he was accused of directing an international human smuggling scheme, a spokesman said Thursday.

Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen, who is accused of running an international adoption scheme, is appealing his suspension from office.

Maricopa County Supervisors are preparing to do something that has never been done in the county's history, conduct an appeal hearing for a suspended official. 

An Arizona official charged with running an adoption-fraud scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands has asked an Arkansas court to delay his trial for 10 months.

Officials in Arizona have hired two law firms and a former attorney general to investigate an elected county assessor who is trying to keep his job as he defends himself against human smuggling charges.

An Arizona elected official charged with running an adoption-fraud scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands ran a legal practice and “made happy families,” his attorney said.

Maricopa County Assessor, Paul Petersen is challenging the Board of Supervisor's decision to suspend him. 

Eight Marshallese women have been caught in the middle of an international adoption scandal involving suspended Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen, and now some that were brought to Arizona to give birth are moving away. 

Paul Petersen has requested a hearing to contest his suspension as Maricopa County assessor while he awaits trial for human smuggling and other charges related to his adoption business.

For the first time since his arrest last month, Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen appeared in an Arizona court where he pleaded not guilty to nearly three dozen charges, including fraud, conspiracy and theft in connection to an international adoption scheme.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has appointed the former county flood control director as a temporary replacement for suspended Assessor Paul Petersen.

An elected official in Arizona pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen federal charges in Arkansas in connection to an alleged adoption fraud scheme.

The governing board in Arizona's most populous county has suspended an elected official accused of running a human smuggling scheme involving pregnant women from the Marshall Islands brought to the U.S. to give birth for adoptions.

A Utah judge has reduced the bail for an Arizona county elected official charged in an alleged human smuggling scheme involving pregnant women.