Robin Niceta indicted, arrested for allegedly faking cancer diagnosis to avoid prosecution
Former Arapahoe County social worker Robin Niceta has been indicted by a grand jury for multiple new criminal charges for allegedly faking a cancer diagnosis to avoid criminal proceedings, according to court records.
Court records show Niceta has been indicted on three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, two counts of forgery of a public record filed with a public office, tampering with physical evidence, criminal impersonation for benefit gain, and three counts of forgery.
The Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office confirms to CBS News Colorado that Niceta was arrested in New Mexico Friday. Officials say she now awaits extradition to Colorado.
Court records show Niceta's mother, Janice Grace Dudley, is also being indicted for her alleged involvement. She faces multiple charges, including attempting to influence a public servant, tampering with physical evidence, and two counts of forgery.
The ACSO says Dudley has not yet been arrested, but an arrest warrant has been issued.
Experts tell CBS News Colorado Niceta and her mother could opt to fight extradition from New Mexico, which would then initiate further court proceedings there, and could require a governor's warrant to be signed.
Niceta was initially facing charges and a criminal trial for allegedly placing a false child abuse report against Aurora city council member Danielle Jurinsky last year.
Officials said they believed Niceta may have made the false report as retaliation after Jurinsky called her ex-girlfriend -- former Aurora police chief Vanessa Wilson -- "trash" on a podcast last year.
Niceta pleaded not guilty, but as her case moved closer to trial, Niceta's lawyer asked to delay court proceedings, claiming Niceta had an aggressive cancerous brain tumor.
This spring, Niceta withdrew her request to delay her criminal trial due to potential incompetency, after prosecutors questioned in court whether or not Niceta really had a brain tumor that she claimed was the reason for being unable to go to trial. At the time, prosecutors said in court it's tough to prove the glioblastoma brain tumor she claimed to have is actually real, and they were "highly suspicious" that the doctor in New Mexico who allegedly signed off on her cancer diagnosis is real.
Prosecutors said they only began to question the diagnosis after CBS News Colorado aired a story showing some of Niceta's alleged cancer records this spring, which prosecutors told the judge prompted many concerned citizens to reach out to prosecutors saying her records may have been fabricated.
Additionally, the judge presiding over the initial case said in court last month that his office had also received a call from at least one uninvolved doctor, a physician from Stanford University, who was concerned about the legitimacy of Niceta's medical records.
Prosecutors said they planned to introduce the allegedly fake cancer diagnosis as new evidence against Niceta in false child abuse report case, showing her "fabricated brain cancer claim as evidence of her guilty mind." In a court filing in June, prosecutors said Niceta "does not suffer from any type of brain cancer."
They say the alleged ruse was an "elaborate attempt to avoid prosecution through the fabrication of medical records."
Prosecutors also said Niceta went "so far as to create fraudulent medical records and MRIs is clearly indicative of bad character. There is simply no innocent explanation for the behavior."
The prosecutors' theory is that Niceta's alleged falsification of records indicates guilt in her initial criminal case in which she was charged with making a false report of child abuse and retaliation against an elected official.
"Simply put," wrote prosecutors, "an innocent person would not go to the great lengths of fabricating a brain tumor in order to be found incompetent to proceed, and this consciousness of guilt is evidence that (Niceta) committed the crime which she is trying to evade."
Her trial in the alleged false child abuse report case is scheduled for August 1.
