FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2019, file photo, Paul Petersen looks on following an initial court appearance in Salt Lake City. Petersen, a former elected official in metro Phoenix accused of running an illegal adoption scheme in three states involving women from the Marshall Islands, The former elected official from metro Phoenix accused of running an illegal adoption scheme pleaded guilty, Thursday, June 18 , 2020, to fraud charges. He faces a maximum of 17 years in prison for his guilty pleas on Arizona charges of fraudulent schemes and forgery. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

PHOENIX - A former elected official in metro Phoenix accused of running an illegal adoption scheme in three states involving women from the Marshall Islands pleaded guilty Thursday to fraud charges for submitting false applications to the Arizona’s Medicaid system for the mothers to receive state-funded health coverage.

Paul Petersen, a Republican who served as Maricopa County’s assessor for six years until his resignation in January, faces a maximum of nearly 17 years in prison for his guilty pleas on Arizona charges of fraudulent schemes and forgery. He also agreed to pay $650,000 to the state's Medicaid system.

He still faces human smuggling charges in Utah and Arkansas as part of the alleged scheme. His attorney, Kurt Altman, said Petersen is scheduled to enter guilty pleas on Friday in Utah and next week in Arkansas.

On behalf of Petersen, Altman acknowledged that his client and another person collaborated on getting state-funded health care for adoptive mothers, even though Petersen knew the women didn’t live in Arizona.

Asked by the judge whether Altman’s summary was correct, Petersen answered, “It’s true.”

He is accused of illegally paying women from the Pacific island nation to come to the United States to give up their babies in at least 70 adoption cases in Arizona, Utah and Arkansas over three years. Citizens of the Marshall Islands have been prohibited from travelling to the U.S. for adoption purposes since 2003.

Authorities say the women who went to Utah to give birth received little or no prenatal care. They also said Petersen and his associates took passports from the pregnant women while they were in the U.S. to assert more control over them.

Previously, Petersen had proclaimed his innocence. His attorneys have said Petersen ran a legal adoption practice and has been vilified before his side of the story comes out.

“While Paul Petersen enjoyed a position of respect and trust in the community, he manipulated adoptive families and bilked Arizona taxpayers for his own profit,” Attorney General Mark Brnovich said in a statement.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christs of Latter-day Saints, he completed a proselytizing mission in the Marshall Islands, a collection of atolls and islands in the eastern Pacific.

Lynwood Jennet, who was accused of helping Petersen in the scheme, pleaded guilty late last year in Arizona to helping arrange state-funded health coverage for the expectant mothers, even though the women didn’t live in the state. She agreed to testify against Petersen.

Authorities say Jennet, who is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 21, assisted the birth mothers in applying for the health benefits at the direction of Petersen.

Officials have said 28 Marshallese women gave birth in the Phoenix area as part of the scheme, costing Arizona more than $800,000 in health care expenses, and that their children were put up for adoption through Petersen.

After Petersen was indicted in October in Arizona, the state opened a second investigation of him that centred on false paperwork that he submitted in adoption cases.

Altman said Petersen provided documents to adoptive families that contained false information incurred by a birth mother and provided records to a county juvenile court that contained false information about expenses.

No sentencing date has been set for Petersen in Arizona. ___ This story has been corrected to show that Lynwood Jennet's sentencing date is Aug. 21, not Aug. 22.

News from © The Associated Press, 2020