ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — The partner of former Aurora Police Department Chief Vanessa Wilson is accused of filing a false child abuse report against a city councilwoman who was critical of Wilson, according to an arrest affidavit.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office said an arrest warrant was issued for Robin Niceta, 40, a former social worker in Arapahoe County. She turned Robin herself into another law enforcement agency in the metro area late Monday. She was booked and has since posted bond.
Niceta faces the following charges, according to the sheriff's office:
- Retaliation against an elected official
- Persons required to report child abuse or neglect
On April 19, the affidavit says, the sheriff's office received information from the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services (DHS) regarding a complaint against Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky.
The complaint referenced possible unlawful sexual contact with a child, according to the affidavit. The report indicated on Jan. 28, someone called the agency to say she was an employee at one of Jurinsky's restaurants and she saw the councilmember sexually assault her son, the affidavit says. The caller also reported a second incident where she exposed the same child to other female staff members, according to the document.
An assessment into the case was conducted by DHS including a home visit with Jurinsky and her parents, the primary daycare the child was attending and home checks of everyone involved, the affidavit says.
DHS determined Jurinksy did not commit any wrongdoing and closed the case in February, according to the affidavit.
"Probably one of the worst moments of my life," Jurinsky said at a press conference Monday. "I was almost inconsolable. The caseworker had to stop several times to allow me to regroup."
According to the affidavit, investigators traced the anonymous call to DHS to Niceta. Niceta is accused of retaliating against Jurinsky after she was critical of Wilson on a podcast in January.
Jurinsky was a guest on the local podcast show The Steffan Tubbs Show. On the podcast, Jurinsky said, "If you want to quote something, Chief Vanessa Wilson is trash."
DHS received the anonymous sexual abuse report the day after Jurinsky made those comments.
"Every other attack that has come my way, I can handle on my feet," Jurinsky said on Monday. "I can fire back and fight back. You involve my child and it brings me to my knees, and it becomes a different kind of fight."
On April 26, the affidavit says investigators were made aware of an email between the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office and Niceta's manager at the DHS. The email said the manager initially reported that the caller did not sound like Niceta, "but after listening to it four more times and doing a side by side comparison of her actual voice [...] I believe it is Robin on the hotline recording," according to the document.
The manager continued, according to the affidavit: "There are similarities in the inflections of her voice and in her speech patterns. I am thinking she just made her voice sound higher during the call."
Investigators interviewed Niceta on May 3, who said she was in possession of the phone all day but denied knowing anything about the tip that came from her number, the affidavit says.
Niceta said her two children and Wilson also have access to the phone and confirmed her children would not have made the call, according to the affidavit.
Investigators then told Niceta "that since her children did not do this, it only leaves herself or Vanessa Wilson for who could have made the call," to which Niceta replied, "'I understand but it wasn't me,'" the affidavit says.
According to the affidavit, investigators noted several inconsistencies with Niceta's statements after conducting a forensic analysis on her personal phone, work phone and work computer.
Niceta denied knowing about the complaint against Jurinsky, but in a message sent from her personal phone, she said she "got a new assessment for a councilwoman" accused of sexually abusing a child, according to the document. The message was sent more than two hours after the tip was made to human services, the affidavit says.
Niceta's manager told a member of the district attorney's office that "there was a '0% chance [Niceta] would have known of this referral within 2.5 hours DHS receiving it,'" the affidavit says.
In addition, an analysis of her work laptop showed a Bing search for "Danielle Jurinsky Address," completed about seven minutes before the tip was made, which contradicts Niceta's statement that she did not know where Jurinsky lived, according to the affidavit.
The laptop analysis also showed Bing searches for "child abuse and neglect reporting hotline" about five minutes before the tip call, and "does the child abuse hotline keep phone numbers in Colorado" four minutes before the tip call, according to the affidavit.
Jurinsky's attorneys want Arapahoe County to review every case that Niceta touched. A county spokesperson said they haven't made a final decision about that yet but they are working to determine next steps.
Niceta resigned from her position at DHS in early May.
9NEWS reached out to Wilson's attorney and Niceta for comment, but has not heard back as of Monday evening.
Arapahoe County released the following statement after the arrest warrant was issued:
"The Arapahoe County Department of Human Services received about 24,000 calls last year to our child and adult protection hotline. We take every allegation seriously and investigate each one consistent with our established process. Our case workers routinely serve those most vulnerable within our community with the highest levels of professionalism and compassion. Arapahoe County also takes allegations of false reporting seriously – especially when they involve employees. We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior, which undermines the critical work of our team. Upon receiving an allegation of false reporting by an employee, we immediately engaged law enforcement and conducted an internal investigation. It would be inappropriate to provide any further comment on this personnel matter."
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