Petersen pleads not guilty anew, hires prominent lawyer
Paul Petersen, the recently suspended Maricopa County Assessor, today pleaded not guilty for the second time in two weeks on allegations that he ran a child smuggling ring.
He also hired a prominent political lawyer to argue that his suspension is unconstitutional.
Petersen showed up to court in Maricopa County exactly one week after his first arraignment in federal court in Arkansas.
Authorities accused Petersen of paying women from the Marshall Islands to deliver their babies in the U.S. and of organizing the children’s adoption to American families. He is charged with smuggling and adoption fraud in Arkansas and Utah, and with defrauding the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System in Arizona.
Read more: https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019/11/05/petersen-pleads-not-guilty-anew-hires-prominent-lawyer/