Elected Arizona Official staged large adoption fraud scheme.

[Unlockable 7,314]

The women are from the Marshall islands.

28 pregnant women affected. Other reports are saying it could be up to 40.

Women were paid to give their children up for adoption.

The indicted official also helped the women illegally use government medical benefits estimated at a cost of over $800,000.

 

This is why immigration is so protective of children and very strict when it comes to adoption.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/09/paul-petersen-arizona-official-indicted-adoption-fraud-scheme/3926733002/

 

Quote

 

PHOENIX – An elected official in Arizona, in his private-sector career as an adoption attorney, arranged for 28 pregnant women from the Republic of the Marshall Islands to travel to Arizona to place their children for adoption over the past four years, authorities said Wednesday.

It is illegal for Marshallese women to travel to the United States for the purpose of adoption.

It's also illegal to scam Arizona's Medicaid system, which state Attorney General Mark Brnovich alleges Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen did when he helped these women illegally access state-funded medical benefits to the tune of $814,000.

• Petersen paid individuals in the Marshall Islands to help locate pregnant women interested in adoption. He then matched them with adoptive families in the U.S.
• Petersen paid the pregnant women $1,000 per month while they were pregnant in the U.S. and covered other expenses. Some birth mothers were promised up to $10,000 to place their unborn child for adoption.
• He charged the adoptive families about $35,000 per adoption, claiming this included the birth mother's medical costs.
• Petersen sent money to the pregnant women in the Marshall Islands to purchase passports.
• Petersen paid for the women to fly to Phoenix and stay in a house he owns for the duration of their pregnancy. In some instances, the women gave birth within days of arriving in Arizona. In other cases, they were in the state as long as six months.
• Shortly before the women gave birth, Petersen or his associates assisted her in signing up for Medicaid benefits, falsely stating they were Arizona residents.
• After the women gave birth and the adoption was complete, Petersen paid for them to fly back to the Marshall Islands or to other states – most often Arkansas.

 

 

[Crazy Cat 41,833]

What a thief!!!!!!

[millefleur 5,046]

**Moved from General Immigration-Related Discussion to Off Topic**

 

 

I hope they throw the book at this guy...