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Ex-Arizona official gets more prison time in adoption scheme

DPS  raids home of Maricopa County Assessor Paul D. Petersen
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A former Arizona politician could serve up to 15 years in prison for operating an illegal adoption scheme involving women from the Marshall Islands after he was given his third sentence in Utah.

Utah Judge Linda M. Jones sentenced Paul Petersen to 1-15 years under Utah’s judicial rules that set a sentencing range and leave it up to the parole board to decide how long a person actually serves. Paul Petersen had already been ordered to serve 11 years in prison in Arizona and Arkansas.

The sentences will run concurrently. Petersen apologized. He was the Maricopa County assessor for six years.