An Arapahoe County social services worker weaponized the child protective system where she worked to retaliate against Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky’s push for the firing of the social service worker’s partner, Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, according to criminal charges authorities filed on Monday.

An arrest warrant obtained by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office alleges the worker, Robin Niceta, anonymously called in a false child sexual abuse allegation to her employer, the intake unit of Arapahoe child protective services.

During the call, Niceta falsely alleged that Jurinsky repeatedly sexually abused Jurinsky’s two-year-old son, according to an affidavit filed by Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Sgt. Johnnie Turnidge. That anonymous accusation then launched a two-week child protective services investigation. Child-protective services eventually cleared Jurinsky. The councilwoman said that while the investigation was underway, she feared losing custody of her child and having him removed from their home.

“This absolutely was devastating for me and my family, and it still is,” a tearful Jurinsky said in an interview.

Authorities filed two criminal charges against Niceta, including a sixth-degree felony count of retaliation against an elected official to sway their vote or opinion and a misdemeanor charge related to her duties as a social services worker. Bail was fixed at a $4,000 personal recognizance bond.

“Her intent 100% was for her to have me lose my child, but it never did get that far,” Jurinsky said. “Obviously, that was the intent of the allegations made by Robin because they were so heinous. The intent was to separate me from my child.”

Niceta declined comment. Her lawyer, Lara Baker, said, “We trust the judicial system to give Ms. Niceta her day in court, and we will leave politics to the politicians.”

Jurinsky said the investigation launched by Niceta’s false allegations were the two worst weeks of her life. She said a child protective worker for the county went through her son’s bedroom and his belongings and interviewed Jurinsky’s parents, her son’s day-care teacher and her son’s pediatrician.

“For two weeks I couldn’t sleep,” Jurinsky said. “I couldn’t look at my son without crying. The thought kept going on, ‘What‘s going to happen? Am I going to lose my son?’ It is absolutely awful.”

After the two-week investigation, the child protective services worker assigned the case cleared Jurinsky of all the allegations Niceta had anonymously lodged, Jurinsky said.

Niceta made the call to the Arapahoe child abuse intake unit on Jan. 28, the day after Jurinsky went on a radio show and called for the removal of police chief Wilson and the deputy chief. During the appearance on the Steffan Tubbs radio show, Jurinsky highlighted multiple issues in the Aurora Police Department, such as the lack of officers.

She said during the radio interview that she supported the officers at the department, but declared, “You are not safe in Aurora.”

“If you want to quote something, Chief Vanessa Wilson is trash,” Jurinsky said on the talk show.

City Manager Jim Twombly eventually did oust Chief Wilson in April. In a press conference after the firing, Twombly said that the firing was based on concerns about “overall management” and “overall leadership.”

Jurinsky called for a deeper probe of Niceta now that authorities have filed criminal charges against Niceta. She said all Niceta’s child-protective cases that Niceta managed as an Arapahoe County social services worker must be reviewed. Niceta, who has resigned, was employed by the county for five years.

“Now that I see this system and how it can be so quickly weaponized, I want a review,” said Jurinsky. “I want a review of every case she’s been involved with, and maybe an audit of every case in the county, period.”

If Niceta targeted others, they may not have had the ability to fend off the accusations, Jurinsky said.

“If there was even one other parent that didn’t have the means to have a voice, and the ability to protect themselves and their family, that’s awful,” she said. “God forbid, if one parent lost their child over a bogus claim. I’m going to stand up for them. I’m going to look into other cases. I’m going to demand it.”

Luc Hatlestad, a spokesperson for Arapahoe County, said Niceta resigned on May 4 in an email to two supervisors. He said the county had no complaint documents regarding Niceta or referral of her to law enforcement, as those were made verbally and not in an official document.

“Please take this email as my immediate resignation from Arapahoe County,” according to a copy of Niceta’s email of resignation he provided. “I appreciate the last five years and I wish you both the very best.”

Hatlestad said the county had not disciplined Niceta, “as Niceta resigned her position.”

Hatlestad also said in a prepared statement: “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.”

Jurinsky added that she also questions whether former Police Chief Wilson also participated in the smear that launched the child protective services investigation. Jurinsky said if the chief knew her partner planned to file a fraudulent smear or learned of it later, then she was complicit and should “be prosecuted to the full extent of the law as well.”

“What were the conversations between the two of them?” she asked. “I think this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

The affidavit of probable cause for arrest of Niceta states cell phone records show Niceta’s cell phone was used to call her employer’s phone on Jan. 28, the day the child sex abuse allegation was made, but did so in a way to cover up that her phone had been used.

Throughout the day, four phone telephone calls were made from Niceta’s cell phone to Chief Wilson’s phone, according to the affidavit.

During an interview with the Arapahoe County sheriff’s investigator, Niceta denied making the call to protective services and said Wilson had access to the phone. The affidavit states a supervisor identified the voice of Niceta as the person who made the anonymous call alleging Jurinsky had engaged in child sexual abuse.

The affidavit also states that within two hours and 27 minutes after the allegation against Jurinsky was made, Niceta sent out an email to an individual stating she had been tasked with investigating a “weird” sex abuse allegation against a councilmember. A supervisor later told law enforcement officials that it would have been impossible for Niceta to know those details within that short of a time under normal circumstances.

Jurinsky said two months after the child-protective services investigation cleared her of the sexual abuse allegations, she received a call from an Arapahoe County Sheriff’s investigator telling her the matter was referred to law enforcement due to the seriousness of the accusations.

Jurinsky said when she met the investigator at the Sheriff’s department the next day, he informed her the investigation had taken on a new twist, and that they now were investigating to determine who made the spurious allegation against her. At that time, Jurinsky learned the Sheriff’s department was investigating Niceta, whom Jurinsky said she has never met, as the responsible party for the false accusation.

“I was just totally blown away,” Jurinsky recalled.

Jurinsky’s call for the firing of the police chief back in January resulted in a censure filing against her by Aurora Councilmember Juan Marcano, which the council eventually dismissed. Marcano had argued that Jurinsky had overstepped her authority because the city charter gives the authority to fire the city’s police chief to the city manager, not elected officials.

Wilson took the role of interim chief early in 2020, and City Council appointed her to the position permanently in August that year. She took the helm of a department struggling with controversy after the death of Elijah McClain during a stop by police officers in 2019.

Jurinsky’s lawyers Suzanne Taheri and Ruchi Kapoor scheduled a press conference for Monday at 3 p.m. at CentrePoint Plaza in Aurora, where Arapahoe County social services is located, to announce that they plan to sue the county. “We need to look at a culture that would have allowed a case like this to go forward and be investigated and bring these kinds of allegations against a parent,” Taheri said.

Jurinsky said at the press conference that she’s used to attacks as a politician, but the false allegations were something completely different.

“The other attacks, every other attack that has come my way, I can handle on my feet,” Jurinsky said. “You involve my child, and it brings me to my knees, and becomes a different kind of fight.”