ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — A former social worker already serving time for making up a child abuse report pleaded guilty Tuesday to additional charges related to her faking cancer to delay her initial case.
Robin Niceta pleaded guilty to a total of seven counts during the hearing which she attended virtually due to her incarceration. They included two counts of attempt to influence a public servant, two counts of second-degree forgery and one count each of forgery, tampering with physical evidence, and criminal impersonation.
The former Arapahoe County social worker was initially arrested in 2022 after an anonymous phone tip called into the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services suggested that Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky might have sexually abused her young son. Caseworkers investigated and found that Jurinsky did nothing wrong and closed the case.
Last November, a jury found Niceta guilty of both charges she faced: attempt to influence a public servant and false reporting of child abuse. She's already serving a four year sentence.
As that case made its way through the court system, Niceta was accused of faking brain cancer to delay her prosecution. She was indicted on 10 counts and pleaded guilty to seven of those counts on Tuesday.
The allegations came to light after her attorneys at the time filed a motion seeking a competency evaluation because Niceta was terminally ill.
The motions also included medical records that appeared to indicate that Niceta was being treated for a brain tumor.
Prosecutors said they could not verify the records and found that an IP address belonging to Niceta and her mother was used to create the Facebook pages of New Mexico Oncology Associates and Carey Marquez, the doctor who purportedly diagnosed the brain tumor.
Niceta will be sentenced in January.
