AURORA | The ex-girlfriend of Aurora’s ex-police chief left an Arapahoe County courtroom in handcuffs Tuesday after being found guilty of framing an Aurora City Council member for child sex abuse.
It took a jury just over an hour to return their verdict that Robin Niceta was guilty of attempting to influence a public servant — a fourth-degree felony, punishable by a prison term of two to six years and a fine of between $2,000 and $500,000 — and making a false report of child abuse — a third-degree misdemeanor, associated with up to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of $50 to $750.
Niceta’s sentencing was set for Jan. 19. She was taken into custody by Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office deputies after Denver Judge Eric Elliff replaced her personal recognizance bond with a $10,000 cash surety property bond.
Prosecutors made the case that Niceta called an Arapahoe County hotline in January 2022 to falsely accuse Councilmember Danielle Jurinsky of molesting her own son as a way of punishing Jurinsky for criticizing then-police chief Vanessa Wilson on a talk radio show. Niceta and Wilson were in an intimate relationship at the time.
Niceta’s attorney insisted Wilson contacted the hotline herself using Niceta’s phone but called no witnesses and presented no evidence to support this claim.
After court was adjourned, one juror, Laurent Kingston, embraced Jurinsky in the hallway outside of the courtroom. Kingston told journalists that jurors did not struggle to reach a verdict and were strongly convinced by digital forensic evidence presented Tuesday.
“It’s pretty obvious. Especially with the unanimous vote, everybody was kind of on the same page,” he said. “That was pretty villainous. That was bad.”
Jurinsky said the guilty verdict was “a long time coming” and marked the end of an ordeal that she described as “nerve-wracking.”
“It gives me peace, because after the sentencing on Jan. 19, I believe that she will be in jail. And then, at that point, I will at least know that she is in jail and not up to her usual antics,” Jurinsky said.
“I’ve known she was guilty since Day One, and she was faking the brain tumor, and everything that’s gone along with it. The woman is an absolute liar. And I’ve known from Day One that she was guilty. So this is amazing. I feel amazing.”
Jurinsky won a $3 million default judgment against Niceta in December in a libel case stemming from the same hotline call.
Prosecutors called additional witnesses on Tuesday to bolster their case that Niceta wanted revenge against Jurinsky and took steps to cover her tracks both before and after the crime.
Michael Garnsey, an Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office investigator, testified about digital evidence recovered from Niceta’s cell phones and laptop that pointed to her placing the call to the county’s child abuse hotline on Jan. 28, 2022, one day after Jurinsky went on a radio show to criticize Wilson.
Messages recovered from Niceta’s personal cell phone indicate Wilson complained to Niceta on Jan. 27 about Jurinsky’s radio appearance. Niceta was employed at that time by the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services as a caseworker specializing in the investigation of child sexual abuse cases.
On Jan. 28, minutes before the hotline call, Niceta’s county-issued laptop was used to look up information online about Jurinsky and a sports bar, JJ’s Place, which Jurinsky owns. The hotline caller claimed to be an employee of JJ’s Place.
The same computer and Niceta’s county cell phone were also used to look up information about the state’s child abuse hotline, including Bing searches such as, “does the child abuse hotline keep phone numbers in colorado.”
At 5:07 p.m., phone records obtained from T-Mobile indicate Niceta’s personal cell phone was used to contact the Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline, which forwarded the call to Arapahoe County’s child abuse hotline.
The caller tried to block their caller ID by dialing “star-six-seven” beforehand, which did not prevent T-Mobile from recording information about the call.
During the phone call, Niceta received text messages from Wilson, which prosecutor Daniel Cohen pointed to along with other messages to discredit defense attorney Frank Moya’s assertion that Wilson made the call herself.
Prosecutors also described an alleged plot by Niceta and her mother, Janice Dudley, to convince the court that Niceta was suffering from a brain tumor, with her defense attorneys arguing earlier this year that Niceta was too sick to travel for court appearances to Colorado from New Mexico, where her parents live.
The attorneys withdrew from her case once the authenticity of medical records describing Niceta’s cancer diagnosis were called into question.
One of those attorneys, Marci LaBranche, testified as a prosecution witness Tuesday. LaBranche confirmed that attorneys received medical records supposedly sent from a cancer clinic, New Mexico Oncology, and said she talked with a man who identified himself as Niceta’s doctor, “C. Marquez.”
Returning to the stand after testifying about his investigation into the hotline call Monday, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office deputy Johnnie Turnidge said he helped investigate Niceta’s brain cancer claims and discovered that New Mexico Oncology did not exist, its business address was invalid and there was no doctor named “C. Marquez” licensed to practice medicine in the United States.
He also said brain scans included in Niceta’s medical records were identical to publicly-available internet images of a glioblastoma tumor that date back at least as far as 2010.
Niceta and Dudley were indicted in July for their roles in the brain cancer scheme. The next court hearing in that case is scheduled to take place Dec. 1.
Summing up the evidence for the jury, prosecutor Alma Staub again described the hotline call as an act of vengeance and said Niceta would have known the harm the false allegation would cause from her experience as a caseworker.
“Robin Niceta knew how to get back at Danielle Jurinsky. She knew how to make her life miserable,” Staub said. “She went far too far, and her act of retaliation broke not one but two laws.”
Moya insisted in his closing remarks that prosecutors had presented nothing beyond circumstantial evidence that Niceta made the call herself, saying it was a “real possibility” that Wilson called the hotline instead.
“What evidence do you have that it was (Niceta) who was on the phone, that it was her voice that was on the recording? Well, you have one witness, basically,” Moya said. “If it were true, you would have had a parade of people coming in here, saying, ‘Yes, that was Robin Niceta’s voice.’ But instead you had one and only one. She knew better than to make a call like that.”
Niceta did not appear to react as the verdict was read, while Jurinsky clasped her hands in front of her face. Tuesday was the second and final day of the trial, which took place at the Arapahoe County Justice Center in Centennial.
justice served
(though Danielle continues to get away with all kinds of shenanigans due to the conservative city council (which now will be even worse, thank you apathetic and angry voters))
But now, Doug, we will be able to read more of your silly statements as long as this blog is alive. Not so sorry that you, too, are angry. You still have Coombs but she will eventually be silent without her far left hand man.
I’ve always wondered why so many of your comments, over the years, do not start with a Capital letter. Is it some form of self serving code? Does it mean every thing after in the sentence is wrong? a lie? not important? Well Mr. King, do you want to tell us?
It will be interesting to see whether she shows up for her sentencing. Given Ms. Niceta’s behavior so far one can envision her going on the run. I imagine that would be as unsuccessful as her fraud on M.s Jurinsky and subsequently on the Court, but it seems in keeping with her character.
This is just the hopeful end to a long list of lies and manipulations Robin Niceta has gotten away with and thankfully she has been found guilty!!