ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — Prosecutors say that Robin Niceta appeared to have fabricated medical records that she claimed showed she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which she said prevented her from traveling to Colorado for a competency hearing, according to court documents.
According to the documents obtained by Denver7 Investigates on Friday, the prosecutors in the case say she appeared to have made up an oncology clinic and doctor in New Mexico, and used Google images of glioblastoma to claim as her own MRI images.
Denver7 | Investigates
Defense: Ex-partner of former Aurora chief is incompetent to stand trial
Niceta, a former social worker in Arapahoe County, is accused of filing a false child abuse complaint against Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky after the councilwoman criticized former Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, who was at the time still Aurora's police chief, during a radio interview.
The motion asked the court to order Niceta, who is currently living in New Mexico, to return to Colorado for a competency evaluation or to provide legitimate medical records about her inability to do so.
According to the documents, a district court judge has ordered Niceta to appear in person for a May 15 hearing unless she can provide those records.
This motions came after MRI scans were provided and reported by another Denver TV station. After the report, medical doctors across the country questioned their validity, which led to the people's motion.
On March 30, the defense raised concerns about Niceta's competency, saying she was suffering from glioblastoma, a brain tumor, and was in "a dire medical state," the court documents say. The following day, the defense filed a motion that included a letter that appeared to be from a doctor at a New Mexico oncology clinic about Niceta's diagnosis.
The court had ordered that she undergo a competency evaluation, but on May 2, the Colorado Mental Health Institute of Pueblo told the court that the evaluation couldn’t be completed because Niceta was out of state and her health status appeared to be preventing her from traveling to Colorado, even temporarily, the documents read.
The prosecution asked for an independent doctor to review the medical records the defense provided to detail Niceta's health issues. That doctor "raised a number of questions about the veracity of the records," the document reads.
Prosecutors tried to verify the records, but their deep dive only led to more questions and "significant concerns that the medical records provided by Ms. Niceta to defense counsel (and to the People and this Court) are fabricated."
The document details the issues: "Some, but not all, of the People’s concerns about Ms. Niceta’s medical records include: the People cannot seem to find any record of the doctor in New Mexico who signed Ms. Niceta’s medical records; the People have not been able to verify that the oncology clinic actually a real oncology clinic or clinic of any kind (the clinic’s phone number is a cellular phone number, the clinic’s website is a 'godaddy' domain that was created in January of 2023, there doesn’t appear to be any other doctors associated with the clinic, and the address doesn’t seem to exist as a verifiable mailing address in Albuquerque); and the MRI images provided by Ms. Niceta are stock images of glioblastoma found with a basic Google image search of the word 'glioblastoma.'"
As a result, the prosecution couldn’t verify any part of Niceta's medical records concerning glioblastoma. Because this condition is listed as the reason why Niceta cannot travel to Colorado for a competency evaluation, the prosecution asked the court to order that she return to the state, or provide valid medical records of her diagnosis.
The document says that this information was "just as new and surprising" to Niceta's defense team as it was to the prosecution.
According to an arrest affidavit for Niceta from May 2022, Niceta allegedly filed a false child abuse complaint against the Aurora City Councilwoman Jurinsky.
The day after Jurinsky called Chief Wilson, Niceta’s then-partner, “trash” on the Steffen Tubbs radio show on Jan. 27, 2022, Jurinsky received a phone call from the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services (DHS) concerning an anonymous accusation that alleged inappropriate contact with her own child.
Jurinsky claimed Niceta falsely accused her of unlawful sexual contact with her own child.
A criminal complaint against Niceta with the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office was filed on April 19, 2022.
The report indicated that on Jan. 28, 2022, shortly after 5 p.m., an anonymous person reported that they were an employee at one of Jurinsky’s restaurants — she owns four around the Denver metro area — and heard Jurinsky ask, “Do you want to see something funny?” and then allegedly made inappropriate sexual contact with the child. The reporting party said the child started crying, according to the arrest affidavit.
The anonymous person reported that a few weeks ago, they saw Jurinsky with her child again. The reporting party claimed that Jurinsky pushed the child’s diaper down to show off his genitals to other staff, the arrest affidavit said.
Investigators were able to trace the anonymous party's phone call to a specific number, which was on record as a personal phone number for Niceta, according to the affidavit.
Investigators pulled Niceta’s T-Mobile record and discovered she allegedly dialed *67 before calling the hotline in an attempt to block the number, the affidavit said.
The Department of Human Services visited Jurinsky’s home, daycare, and more. The case was closed on Feb. 14, 2022 with no wrongdoing on Jurinksky’s part, according to the affidavit.
Wilson's attorney, Paula Greisen, later said that Wilson had no involvement in the events described in the affidavit.
Niceta was charged in 2022 with a felony for attempting to influence a public servant and a misdemeanor for making a false child abuse report. She pleaded not guilty in December of last year.
At the end of March this year, defense attorneys for Niceta told the judge presiding over the case that Niceta was incompetent to stand trial because of a brain tumor and cancer diagnosis.
The next motions hearing in the case was scheduled for May 18.
Niceta and the county DHS now face a class action lawsuit and federal complaint, which focuses on the alleged separation or attempted separation of children from their parents or caregivers by ACDHS.
Niceta, 40, resigned from her position as a social worker and case manager with Arapahoe County on May 4, 2022.
