The domestic partner of the now-fired Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson stands accused of a felony charge involving a false child abuse tip made against Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky.
The affidavit claims Robin Niceta’s, an Arapahoe County Department of Human Services public employee, made the false claims as retaliation the day after Jurinsky criticized Wilson on the radio in January.
The affidavit, signed by an Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office sergeant, says Niceta called the Department of Human Services anonymously to report that Jurinsky had abused her son in the presence of her employees.
The call was placed on Jan. 28, the day after Jurinsky appeared on KNUS host Steffan Tubbs’ talk-radio show and criticized Wilson’s leadership, referring to Wilson as “trash.”
Investigators with the department later determined that the allegations against Jurinsky were unfounded, and law enforcement concluded that Niceta placed the call after finding that her number matched the number of the anonymous caller and in light of forensic analysis of Niceta’s cell phone and county-issued laptop.
Among other pieces of evidence, roughly four minutes before the call was placed, Niceta allegedly used the search engine Bing on her county laptop to look up “does the child abuse hotline keep phone numbers in colorado,” according to the affidavit.
Niceta is also charged with making a false report of child abuse as a mandatory reporter, a second-degree misdemeanor.
Needless to say, the allegations in the affidavit are absolutely jaw-dropping.
Even more so that Niceta’s alleged retaliation scheme wasn’t just targeted at Jurisnky herself, but included Jurisnky’s young son.
https://twitter.com/DustinZvonek/status/1526306685702184961?s=20&t=JKWxEZLJlFE-XKE1OKwNGw
Niceta resigned from her position May 4, the day after she was questioned by investigators. Wilson was removed from her position as Aurora Police Chief on April 6 after outside investigators uncovered a bureaucratic backlog of investigations that piled up under Wilson’s watch.
In a press conference this week, Jurinsky criticized the county’s decision to allow Niceta to resign, arguing she should have been terminated.
Aurora Councilwoman Jurinsky’s message to Robin Niceta, who is accused of filing a false child abuse report against @DaniJurinsky:
“I can’t wait to see her in court” #copolitics pic.twitter.com/scBbfzOnwv
— CO Peak Politics (@COpeakpolitics) May 16, 2022
Niceta reportedly has not yet surrendered to authorities.
Jurinsky said there’s more to come out and more to unravel. “If chief Wilson knew anything about this…if she did not report that and she knew that, I want her prosecuted to the full extent of the law as well.”
— Saja Hindi (@BySajaHindi) May 16, 2022
If Niceta is capable of doing something as twisted as falsely accusing a perceived political enemy of child abuse, it’s reasonable to ask what else she or even Wilson herself may have done during their time as public employees.
By all appearances this doesn’t seem like a random lapse of judgment on the part of Niceta, but something she truly believed she could get away with.
Should that prove to be the case the public deserves a full accounting of whether the allegations against Niceta are really just the tip of the iceberg.