FAYETTEVILLE -- A lawyer indicted in Arkansas in a multistate illegal adoption scheme will change his plea in the case today, according to the U.S. District Court.
Paul Petersen of Mesa, Ariz., pleaded not guilty to 19 federal charges related to illegally paying women from the Marshall Islands, a Pacific island nation, to come to the United States to give up their babies.
Seventy adoption cases his firm handled in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas over three years figured into the indictment, court records show. Citizens of the Marshall Islands cannot legally travel to the U.S. for the sole purpose of giving up babies for adoption.
The federal charges are one count of conspiracy to smuggle illegal aliens for commercial advantage and private financial gain, four counts of aiding and abetting alien smuggling for commercial advantage and private financial gain, seven counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Petersen opened a branch of his law firm's office in Fayetteville in 2014, according to court records. Investigators estimated that branch of the firm handled about 30 adoptions a year. The firm's standard fee for an adoption was $10,000 up front and $25,000 upon completion of the adoption, court records say.
Petersen pleaded guilty last week to state charges in Arizona and Utah.