An Arizona lawyer was arrested last week on a slew of charges after investigators linked him to an elaborate adoption fraud scheme. For three years, prosecutors say, Paul Petersen “recruited, transported, and offered payment” to more than 40 pregnant women from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific in exchange for their babies, who he then illegally adopted out in the United States. He faces 11 different felony charges, including human smuggling, the sale of a child, communications fraud, and pattern of unlawful activity, according to the Utah Attorney General’s Office.
Petersen's alleged scheme ran from December 2016 to August 2019, but first caught the attention of authorities in October 2017.
During those years, Petersen transported the women to the United States and housed them in Utah. In exchange, the women were paid through associates — to the tune of $10,000 each.
Here's the main issue, though: An international agreement between the United States and the Marshall Islands, known as the Compact of Free Association, strictly prohibits the Marshallese from traveling to the United States for adoption purposes — a law that authorities are very certain Petersen knew about.
It wasn't until a state investigator was alerted through the Utah Attorney General’s Human Trafficking tip line in 2017 that authorities started to become suspicious of Petersen's whole operation.
It seems staff members at a Utah hospital had begun to notice a curious trend in their maternity ward ...
An "influx" of Marshallese women would arrive at the hospital, give birth, and then place their children up for adoption. All of these women had another similarity: They listed their home address as the same residence in West Valley City, Utah.
They also arrived the same way, each time — not with their partner or another close family member, but by one woman in particular, who reportedly lived at the same address.
It didn't take long for authorities to connect the dots and trace the residence back to Petersen.
During the investigation, authorities interviewed several adoptive parents, who gave them even more disturbing details on how the women were kept.
One family said they went to visit a birth mother at her home, which they described as a "baby mill" with “15 or more pregnant women living there" at one time, according to People.
Even more disturbing was the state of the home. “Many appeared to be sleeping on mattresses on a bare floor,” an affidavit stated.
Although many adoptions did go through, there were at least some prospective parents who backed out after spotting red flags.
One family, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that after having several conversations with Petersen, they started to sense his methods were both unethical and illegal, according to ABC15.
"To him, I don't believe it was actually about the babies," a woman identified as Julie shared with the outlet. "I think it was all about the money."
Julie claims that she was initially put in touch with Petersen through a case worker, but she quickly saw that he was not following normal adoption procedures.
Instead of the process taking months (or longer) as potential birth moms reviewed the couple's file to determine if they were a fit, Petersen very quickly told Julie that he'd already matched her with a mom. They knew next to nothing about each other, but he claimed she'd have a baby imminently, at the very attractive price of $32,000.
Considering the average US adoption costs $43,000 and frequently more, this was a steal. But something just didn't smell right. Having adopted before, Julie and her husband knew Petersen's whole process was off. They knew nothing about the birth mom — nor did she know anything about them. And the way Petersen hastily forked over his bank account number and asked for the money within 24 hours, seemed … well, odd.
It wasn't long until Julie put a stop to the adoption, and even connected with several other women via Facebook who had similar experiences with Petersen that left them uneasy.
For now, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said there are no plans to “unwind” adoptions that have already gone through.
Petersen, meanwhile, is being held on a $500,000 cash bond and was expected to appear in a Utah courtroom on October 15.
These charges are just the beginning, however, because he also faces similar charges in Arizona and Arkansas, according to People.
