Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen Resigns

paul petersen
Paul D. Petersen [Photo courtesy Maricopa County Assessor's Office]

On Tuesday, Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen once again claimed innocence before announcing his resignation from office. Petersen is accused of running an illegal adoption fraud scheme.

In late December, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to uphold Petersen’s 120-day suspension imposed by the Board and to initiate the process to remove him from office.

Petersen’s alleged co-conspirator in an alleged adoption fraud scheme, Lynwood Jennet, has pleaded guilty earlier in December to Conspiracy to Commit Fraudulent Schemes and Artifices, Two Counts of Theft, and Failure to File a Tax Return. Jennet cut a deal with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

Petersen announced his resignation in a written statement released by his legal counsel:

I am an innocent man, but the media and the Board of Supervisors have presumed my guilt rather than my innocence in this matter. The Board of Supervisors even disregarded their own report concluding that my office discharged all its statutory duties, and the legal standard governing suspensions of duly elected constitutional officers, because they believed no one would look too closely in light of the sensationalized and one-sided media environment. Several of the Supervisors voted to suspend me for being involuntarily absent from the office for less time than they were voluntarily absent; they were a jury of hypocrites.

I fought the Board’s initial decision because it felt wrong to capitulate to a suspension based on anything other than my performance in office—and because, as the Board’s own report concluded, I never neglected my duties as the Maricopa County Assessor. Anyone can second guess the hours I spent at the downtown office, or whether the position should be appointed rather than elected, but I performed my statutory duties with honesty and the support and loyalty of an entire office.

Two regrets as I leave public life are that I did not have an opportunity to personally thank the professional team with whom I served for over 14 years in the Assessor’s office, and that this spectacle has distracted them from their dedication to fairly and equitably valuing all property in Maricopa County.

Today, I reluctantly resign as Maricopa County Assessor. My focus now turns to defending the allegations against me. Those allegations will ultimately be resolved in a courtroom, where rules and the Constitution still matter.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, in September 2019, Jennet was indicted by a State Grand Jury for fraudulent filings to the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), the state’s Medicaid system, and failing to file a tax return. Later, in October 2019, Jennet and Petersen were both indicted by a State Grand Jury in an alleged adoption fraud scheme.

As stated in Jennet’s plea agreement, between November 30, 2015, and May 30, 2019, Jennet coordinated certain aspects of the Marshallese adoptions, including helping birthmothers in applying for medical benefits through AHCCCS. Jennet admits she fraudulently misrepresented that the applicants were Arizona residents in order to obtain payment for medical services, including birth costs.

In 1983, the United States entered into a Compact of Free Association with the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), which prohibits RMI citizens from entering the United States under the Compact if their travel is for the purpose of adoption.

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