Robin Niceta was ordered to pay $3 million in damages to a member of Aurora City Council in a civil case where the councilwoman claimed Niceta had slandered her with a false report of child abuse in 2022.
Niceta, former partner of former Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, is accused of making a knowingly false report of child abuse involving Aurora City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky to the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services (ACDHS). A civil case was filed against Niceta for libel and slander.
"I'm never going to see $3 million in my lifetime from Robin Niceta, and I understand that," Jurinsky said in a one-on-one interview with Denver7. "But what Judge Volz gave me, essentially, is the ability to make sure that Robin never forgets what she did to me, to my family and to my son."
In late January 2022, on a conservative radio talk show, Jurinsky made comments about then-Police Chief Wilson that included calling her "trash" amid talk of the city's high crime rate. At the time, Niceta was in a relationship with Wilson and worked as a social worker and case manager with ACDHS.
The following day, Niceta made an anonymous report to the ACDHS' Division of Child and Adult Protective Services claiming that she had "personally observed" two incidents that involved Jurinsky allegedly committing child abuse against her child, according to an affidavit.
The ACDHS then opened an investigation against Jurinsky. Niceta initially asked to be assigned to the investigation, according to the order for judgment. As part of the investigation, Jurinsky was forced to reveal the investigation to her child's doctor and school personnel, like her son's teacher. She called those "the most horrifying conversations I ever had to have in my life."
Law enforcement eventually traced the anonymous report to Niceta's cell phone. Minutes before she made the call, police found that she had searched online for Jurinsky's address and the phrase "child abuse and neglect reporting hotline," according to the affidavit.
The investigation into the alleged child abuse concluded on Feb. 14, 2022 after 15 days, with no wrongdoing on Jurinsky's part, according to the affidavit.
"I was placed under this 15-day investigation with this looming fact that I could lose my child," she told Denver7 on Friday.
Investigators spoke with Niceta about her suspected involvement in the false report of child abuse. On May 4, Niceta resigned from her position.
That same month, Niceta was criminally charged with felony attempt to influence a pubic servant and misdemeanor false reporting of child abuse. She made her first appearance in July. She has pleaded not guilty to these charges. Her criminal case is ongoing.
Jurinsky told Denver7 she believed the false report was made in retaliation for the "trash" remark on the radio show and called on Arapahoe County to review every case Niceta oversaw at the county DHS.
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In June, Jurinsky filed paperwork showing her intent to sue Niceta for libel and slander. Jurinsky also said she would sue the county.
By August, Niceta and the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services had been named in a class action lawsuit and federal complaint. Jurinsky is the plaintiff in the class action lawsuit, which also names ACDHS division manager Michelle Dossey and the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners. The suit focused on the alleged separation or attempted separation of children from their parents or caregivers by ACDHS.
"She abused her power — her position of authority with DHS," Jurinsky told Denver7.
The federal complaint was filed on Aug. 14 by the parents of a teen girl who was removed from her home for a year in Aug. 2020. It names Niceta, Arapahoe County DHS, two ACDHS caseworkers, an ACDHS supervisor, ACDHS director Cheryl Ternes and the Arapahoe County Board of Commissioners.
"For something like this to happen, I mean — first of all, we have to hold people in positions of power accountable," Jurinsky said Friday. "We have to hold them accountable when they abuse their power."
Regarding the class action lawsuit, the court held a damages hearing where Jurinsky, as well as her father, testified about the "emotional and mental toll" she had suffered, according to the order of judgment.
On Dec. 23, 18th Judicial District Judge Elizabeth Volz ordered that Niceta would pay Jurinsky $3 million in damages. Jurinsky released the information on the damages to media on Friday.
According to Colorado law, exemplary damages in civil actions are allowed where “the injury complained of is attended by circumstances of fraud, malice, or willful and wanton conduct." In this case, the court found actual damages and then worked to determine a dollar amount.
In numerous previous cases, the counsel had multiplied a dollar amount by the number of days the plaintiff experienced pain. The court on Dec. 23 determined the daily figure in this case was $100,000 and the multiplier was 15 — the number of days the investigation was open — to equal $1.5 million in actual damages, according to the order.
The court also found that Niceta's actions were "willful and wanton and done with actual malice" and that Niceta knew the report would lead to an investigation and possible separation of a child and his mother, according to the order.
For this, the court awarded exemplary damages to equal the compensatory damages of $1.5 million, bringing the total to $3 million.
As written in the order, "this award is made, in part, 'to send a message that [this] kind of conduct cannot and should not be tolerated by anybody.'"
During Friday's one-on-one interview with Denver7, Jurinsky said elected officials sometimes "battle" and call each other names and "throw mud" as they fight for what they believe is right.
"But you do not go after someone's children — under any circumstance, do you go after someone's children," she said. "And this really helps to send that message."
She said the damages awarded in this case show that the law will catch up to people who misuse their power.
"And this could potentially haunt you for the rest of your life. And that is what will happen to Robin Niceta now, with this judgment," Jurinsky said. "It also sends the message that for elected officials — the seriousness of this. Our children are off limits. Our children are off limits in politics."
Niceta's criminal case is still active and Jurinsky said she is prepared for trial. The suit against Arapahoe County is also still ongoing.
"That one is also very important to me, because that's where we can really start to affect change," Jurinsky said of the latter. "There are systemic issues within DHS that need to change. And that's where we start to affect real change."
