The Maricopa County, Arizona assessor has been suspended for 120 days without pay after he was charged with illegally smuggling pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. and then paying them to give up their newborns for adoption.
Assessor Paul Petersen has been indicted in Arkansas federal court and faces similar charges in Arizona and Utah with crimes like human smuggling, sale of a child, fraud and more.
Petersen hasn’t permanently lost his job because officials don’t have the power to remove him from his office, even though his case involves around 75 illegal adoptions.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/elected-arizona-assessor-accused-scheme-sell-children-adoption-suspended-n1073181
