An Anaconda woman turned a typical parenting plan in her divorce case into an elaborate ruse of lies that the Kansas City Royals had hired her new husband as a batting coach for $1.8 million and the team’s All-Star catcher, Salvador Perez, was already working with him, an attorney says in court documents.
Philipsburg attorney Lawrence Henke says Jasmine Rochelle Peterson submitted falsified emails and forged documents to back her story in hopes of getting expedited court approval to move her kids to Kansas City.
A Montana judge gave her temporary permission to do that on May 28 but revoked it the next day based on “significant, credible evidence” that claims involving her and her new husband, Danny Pettigrew, were falsified.
Henke is representing Peterson’s ex-husband, Chad Peterson, in judicial parenting arrangements and obtained a sworn affidavit from Royals Vice President and General Counsel Michael Post saying he wasn’t aware of a Danny Pettigrew and he had no job or pending contract with the team.
Fans fill Kauffman Stadium as the Kansas City Royals host the New York Yankees during Game 4 of an American League Division Series playoff baseball game on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.
AP Photo/Colin E. Braley
Post said the team doesn’t employ a Rich Polley, a purported scouting director listed as sending emails, and he debunked the story, a supposed contract with Pettigrew, emails and other documents, point by point.
Even titles such as “recruiting director” and “batting coach,” cited in emails are not used by the Royals, he stated, the team does not use a yahoo.com URL and there was no Royals logo on a purported contract.
“No contract of the Kansas City Royals would be so crudely drafted and lack a team MLB affiliation,” the affidavit said.
“In summary, the Kansas City Royals are not involved in any of this, including the contract, the emails, or any employment opportunity for Danny Pettigrew,” Post states in the notarized affidavit.
Jasmine Peterson, now Jasmine Pettigrew, submitted the emails through Butte attorney Brad Belke, who was representing her in the divorce case. He recently withdrew as her attorney, court records show, and Henke says it appears he was simply duped or tricked into submitting false documents.
Belke has not returned a phone message from The Montana Standard seeking comment. The Standard also called phone numbers listed for Jasmine Pettigrew and Danny Pettigrew, left voicemail messages and sent an email to Jasmine Pettigrew seeking comment.
Benjamin Reed, a Helena attorney, filed notice with court Thursday as now representing Jasmine. The Standard left a voicemail message at his office number on Friday seeking comment.
A divorce between Jasmine and Chad Peterson was finalized in March and she was awarded joint custody of their young children on April 1, Henke said, but she sought changes in the parenting plan the next day.
Henke said Jasmine and Pettigrew wanted to justify an out-of-state move and relocate her kids, too, but needed court permission for the latter.
Pettigrew was a mechanic at Denny Menholt Ford in Butte but according to their story, the Royals offered him a six-year, $1.8 million contract as a batting coach out of the blue and needed him in the Kansas City area quickly.
The story was absurd, Henke said in court documents, and layers of lies and deception through emails and documents got more extravagant as the days passed.
“Jasmine and Danny’s deception was elaborate and sustained, involving false claims about employment, housing, and marital requirements, as well as a series of fabricated stories centered around the Kansas City Royals baseball team,” Henke said in a May 29 emergency court motion seeking sole custody of the children for the ex-husband and a contempt-of-court order. “It was all false.”
But the fabrications went beyond wishful thinking, Henke says.
He said the deceptions involve fraud, forgery, tampering, false swearing and obstruction and he has filed a police report in Anaconda alleging such crimes. He wants them investigated and pursued by prosecutors.
He said felony crimes against the Royals have also been committed and said according to the Royals, Major League Baseball is concerned about the “Rich Polley” factor and whether someone is impersonating a Major League scout.
The Standard contacted the Royals and left a message seeking comment on the matter.
The deceptions have harmed the children involved, Henke says, fractured their trust in their father and put them at risk for a number of emotional and psychological issues.
“Two possible motivations exist for this behavior by Jasmine,” Henke states in his motion. “Either she actually believes that Danny Pettigrew was miraculously plucked from the oil change pit at Denny Menholt Ford to become a professional MLB coach, or she is a sociopath … who finds nothing wrong with committing fraud upon the Court, her lawyer or anyone else.”
Based on Henke’s motion and evidence he presented, District Judge Luke Berger issued an order on May 29 granting the ex-husband sole custody of the children on a temporary basis “in order to protect the children from any potential harm or removal from this jurisdiction without authority.”
Berger has restricted visitation to supervised visits within Anaconda and ordered Jasmine and Pettigrew to appear in District Court in Anaconda on Thursday.
At that hearing they are to “to show cause on why they should not be held in Contempt of Court for the submission of seemingly falsified and forged documents … filed by Mr. Belke on their behalf on May 28, 2025.”
Reed, the lawyer now representing Jasmine, has filed a motion seeking a postponement of that hearing.
Kansas City Royals’ Salvador Perez at bat against the Detroit Tigers during the first inning of a baseball game in Kansas City, Mo., June 1, 2025.
AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann
How the story unfolds
According to Henke, Judge Berger issued a final divorce decree between Jasmine and Chad Peterson on March 14. But he said the day after Chad Peterson agreed to a final parenting and visitation plan on April 1, Jasmine filed a motion seeking to move the kids.
Henke says an agreement was reached requiring Jasmine to provide proof of various claims of employment and security for the children. He believes the Royals story was concocted to show how well the children would fare in the move.
Jasmine provided emails and documents to Belke to back up the job-offer story, including a purported coaching agreement and claims Jasmine and Pettigrew were getting married because the Royals “only hire married coaches.”
Henke says at one point, Belke said there was a delay in signing the contract because Pettigrew would not move without Jasmine and the kids. But Henke believes Pettigrew was already working as a mechanic in the Kansas City area and says an employer has verified that.
The emails and documents provided, which are included in Henke’s court motions, include:
• One from the purported “Royals scouting director” Rich Polley to Pettigrew saying they had decided to hire him as “are new batting coach for the 2025 season.” There are other grammatical errors besides the “are” in that sentence.
It said Pettigrew and his family were required to live in Kansas City, the team would assist with arranging housing and private schooling and he needed to start work and his six-year contract by the end of April.
“We look forward to seeing what you can bring the Ball Club and can’t wait to start an amazing season,” Polley says in the email.
• Another email on March 3 also looks forward to a wonderful season, but the Royals had started spring training on Feb. 21.
• One document has Polley’s title as “recruiting director” and Pettigrew’s title as “batting coach,” when the Royals use neither term. It is signed by Polley and Pettigrew but features of some letters in both signatures appear identical.
The parenting agreement required Jasmine to provide a signed employment contract between Pettigrew and the Royals that matched previous claims it was for $1.8 million over six years.
The one she provided to the court through Belke:
• Includes various terms of the contract and lists the $1.8 million as an annual salary when it’s supposed to be over six years.
• It includes a “wet” signature from Pettigrew, meaning it was by pen, and electronic signatures from two Royals executives that weren’t verified through any legitimate system such as DocuSign.
Henke said as further purported proof of the employment, Jasmine submitted a supposed email from Royals catcher Salvador Perez, a likely future Hall of Famer.
He indicates that he’s already working with Pettigrew and can even help one of Pettigrew’s kids with batting.
That email is dated May 10 at 9:19 p.m., when Perez and the Royals were playing the Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. There are restrictions on players using cellphones during games.
Henke told the court he expects an affidavit from Perez to establish with certainty the email was fake.
In the first phases of the fraud, Henke states in his May 29 court motion, Jasmine touted Royals assistance in getting her into a gated community with other pro athlete families.
“Three different times in the course of weeks, Jasmine presented the ‘home in a gated community’ as the panacea for the children,” but a lease she provided backs none of that, Henke says. His motion states:
“It is not a home in a gated community; it is not affiliated with the Kansas City Royals. No other professional athlete resides here; it is a generic apartment complex.”
Henke also presented the court with an affidavit from Chad Peterson, the ex-husband. He states that Jasmine and Pettigrew called the kids making outlandish promises, even telling one he will be coached by a starting Royals player, if they agreed to move.
Berger’s order requires Jasmine and Pettigrew to appear at the Thursday show-cause hearing and prohibits them from having any contact with Chad Peterson or the children unless it is during authorized visitation.