Inside Aurora Council Member's Lawsuit Against Ex-Social Worker Robin Niceta

Robin Niceta was once a low-profile child-protective worker with the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services's child-and-adult-services division. But just weeks after she attended an April 11 press conference about the controversial firing of ex-Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, her then-partner, Niceta was arrested on suspicion of pressing false accusations of child abuse against Aurora City Council member Danielle Jurinsky shortly after the politician used the word "trash" to describe Wilson on a local radio show.

Jurinsky put forward a $1 million notice of claim against Arapahoe County in early June, and on August 24 she followed through in a big way, filing a lawsuit in district court that names as defendants the department and its manager, Michelle Dossey; the county's board of commissioners; and Niceta, who is no longer a county employee. It's the second complaint against Niceta this month, following a suit by Kamel and Maria Leghouini issued on August 14, and this one seeks class-action status.

One excerpt reads: "The class is so numerous that joinder of all potential class members is impracticable. Plaintiff does not know the exact size of the class since that information is within the control of Defendants. However, Plaintiff estimates that, based upon with conferral with local, independent media outlets who are investigating Defendants’ actions and other individuals who have come forward, the class is composed of well over 40 persons."

The day before the suit was officially submitted by Jurinsky's attorney, Elliot Singer of Denver-based Conduit Law LLC, the Denver Gazette reported that Niceta was being investigated by the FBI "on new allegations of manipulating the child protective system where she worked to gain the upper hand in her own child custody battle." But while the lawsuit makes plenty of accusations against Niceta, it also attacks the institution that employed her.

The introduction: "Through the activities and conduct of Defendants, dozens, if not hundreds (or more), of Arapahoe County families have been torn apart, sometimes permanently, on the basis of constitutionally improper investigations, false sworn testimony by Arapahoe County employees, fabricated evidence introduced by Arapahoe County employees in both investigatory and judicial proceedings, and a downright inexplicable, unfounded, and unjust desire to separate or attempt to separate children from their parents or other caretakers."
The suit continues: "Defendants have not only violated the United States Constitution and federal law in doing so but have also, through their actions in baselessly separating or attempting to separate children from their parents or caretakers, caused unspeakable trauma to so many individuals in Arapahoe County, including both children and their parents or other caretakers alike. On top of the trauma of having their life’s treasures – their children — taken or nearly taken from them, some parents or other caretakers have been silenced, through improper protection orders, or even jailed for speaking out against or otherwise fighting Defendants’ conduct."

These claims are underscored by a collection of bullet points contending that "Defendant ACDHS, through its employees, independent contractors, or other agents," have:

• repeatedly failed to conduct adequate, thorough, and constitutional investigations of child abuse and neglect complaints, which deprive parents and caretakers of their rights of due process and equal protection under the law;
• intentionally and knowingly failed to consider the testimony of individuals who would be intimately familiar with a subject child’s wellbeing including relatives, teachers, friends, or other close associates;
• introduced false testimony at judicial proceedings regarding the separation or attempts to separate children from their parents or caregivers;
• intentionally or recklessly ignored express, written allegations regarding the falsity of a child abuse and neglect complaint;
• intentionally and knowingly failed to report allegations regarding the falsity of a child abuse and neglect complaint to law enforcement authorities;
• knowingly and intentionally altered statements and translations of statements of critical witnesses such as parents, caretakers, and their relatives, friends, colleagues, or other associates during the course of
investigatory or judicial proceedings;
• knowingly and intentionally retained purported, out-of-state experts for the sole purpose of separating or attempting to separate children from their parents and caretakers;
• knowingly and intentionally ignored the findings and conclusions of other experts, including medical experts, who expressly and in writing disagreed with Defendant ACDHS’ recommendations and conclusions;
• knowingly and intentionally modified internal open investigations in the TRAILS system in order to separate or attempt to separate children from their parents or caretakers;
• made sexual advances towards parents or caretakers involved in active, open investigations, including by offering parents and caretakers alcoholic beverages in the course of an ongoing investigation, inviting them to the employee’s personal home, and giving them the employee’s personal telephone number; and
• silenced, attempted to silence, and/or internally conspired to silence, through improper restraining orders, or otherwise refused to hear, in the course of investigatory proceedings, individuals who protest or otherwise fight against the separation or attempted separation of children from their parents or caregivers.

Similar claims are leveled against Niceta and Dossey.

After requesting an order naming Jurinsky a class representative, the suit asks for "judgment in favor of Plaintiff and other similarly situated individuals...in an amount to be determined by the trier of fact" for personal losses, plus expert witness fees, attorney's fees, filing fees, pre- and post-judgment interest and "such other further relief as the Court may deem appropriate, just and proper."

An Arapahoe County spokesperson offered the following statement about the lawsuit:

Arapahoe County is equally appalled and concerned as our community is about the alleged criminal actions of Robin Niceta, a former employee of our Human Services department.

There are many checks and balances within the child protection system to weed out false allegations. We have confidence in our ability to protect children from abuse and neglect in our County, and at the same time to preserve the rights of parents and guarantee due process. All allegations of abuse and neglect of children are fully evaluated and investigated by multiple layers of human services, educational, medical, mental health, and legal professionals, in accordance with State laws and regulations. When disputes arise during these investigations, all parties have the right to have their case heard by a judge or jury, and also to appeal. There also is a State-prescribed process for reviewing complaints we receive about closed cases, and we act upon the conclusions of those evaluations as needed.

We have not yet had a chance to review all of the allegations in the recently filed complaints but point out that many of them draw conclusions without citing factual specifics. We are not aware of any evidence of widespread misconduct by the caseworkers and other professionals within the Arapahoe County Human Services Department, despite what is alleged in the complaints.

The Colorado Department of Human Services, as the supervising agency of each county department of human services, is investigating, at our request, whether there are potentially other issues of concern in all assessments and cases conducted by Ms. Niceta during her tenure with the County. We are awaiting the results of this independent investigation and will swiftly take any appropriate action after it is completed.

Click to read Danielle Jurinsky v. Arapahoe County Department of Human Services, et al.

This post has been updated to include a response from Arapahoe County regarding the lawsuit.