Law enforcement officials in Colorado are reportedly re-examining a false bomb threat made in Arapahoe County to determine if a former social worker - who has been accused of fabricating reports against dozens of parents to tear families apart - played any role in the phony threat.
"It's a very big deal, we've known about it since May when our investigation started," Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Ginger Delgado told CBS Colorado of the office being aware of the bomb threat case.
Multiple law enforcement sources told the outlet that authorities are revisiting the bomb threat made in January at the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services. Former social worker for the agency, Robin Niceta, was the first person to report the phony threat, according to CBS Colorado.
Niceta resigned from her position as a social worker for the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services in May when accusations of misconduct mounted against her and she was ultimately arrested on charges of retaliation against an elected official and making a false report.
COLORADO COUNCILWOMAN SAYS ‘POLITICAL ATTACK’ BY SOCIAL WORKER UNLEASHED TROVES OF OTHER ALLEGATIONS
Niceta was charged after the Arapahoe sheriff's office determined she made a false claim that Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky sexually abused her own son back in January of this year. The bogus claim came after Jurinsky went on a local radio show and made critical remarks against then-Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson, who unbeknownst to Jurinsky was dating Niceta at the time.
The Aurora Police Department investigated the bomb threat in January, but never arrested or named a suspect in the case.
Niceta reported the bomb threat on Jan. 11 after she and another employee for the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services found a sticky note on a door to a women’s bathroom reading, "F-k you all there is a bomb. Die," according to an Aurora police report reviewed by CBS Colorado.
Officers found the note "in an area only accessible to employees by the use of scanning their ID badge to allow entry through the secured door. While there are security cameras in public areas of the building, there are no cameras in the secured areas of the building."
The building was evacuated after authorities were made aware of the note, but Aurora police, a fire squad and a bomb-sniffing K9 found no bomb in the building.
No fingerprints were retrieved from the note, according to an Aurora police investigator, and only three non-employees visited the building that day, CBS Colorado reported.
An officer who investigated the case ultimately received surveillance video from the building that day, but did not review the footage due to human services administrators telling him it appeared to not show any helpful information.
"After reviewing this entire case, I am not able to identify a suspect who would have left the bomb note on the bathroom door," Aurora Police Officer Paul Cancino wrote in the report, according to the outlet.
The case is listed as "inactive," according to the Aurora Police Department.
"This case remains inactive ... we do not plan to have an outside agency look into this case," police spokesperson Sgt. Faith Goodrich said.
"A supervisor reviews each investigation when it is closed or moved forward. The supervisor ensures there are no further, viable leads and the investigation is complete," she added in comments to CBS Colorado.
Another spokesperson for the police department confirmed to Fox News Digital on Sunday that the "case was assigned to an investigator and ultimately, no charges were filed." The department spokesperson added that the police department is not currently investigating the matter.
The sheriff’s office added that it is not investigating the bomb claim, but spokesperson Delgado said officials at the office "care about" the case.
"This is a separate case and part of an unrelated pattern of other issues with Niceta," Delgado said.
Law enforcement sources told CBS Colorado that the FBI has also taken interest in the false bomb threat. Local outlets reported earlier this year that the FBI is investigating Niceta for an unrelated matter concerning whether she used her position as a caseworker to gain custody of a former partner’s child and filed a false police report against the former partner.
An FBI official in Denver directed Fox News Digital to a previous comment from the agency regarding Niceta when asked about the phony bomb threat.
"Except in rare circumstances, the FBI cannot confirm or deny the existence of an investigation. When an investigation is warranted and it is determined a federal law appears to have been violated, those results are forwarded to the appropriate U.S. Attorney's Office, which decides whether or not to move forward with charges," Vikki Migoya, an FBI official with the Denver field office, said.
TEXAS CPS EMPLOYEE FIRED AFTER ALLEGEDLY TELLING 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL TO BECOME A PROSTITUTE
Migoya added that the FBI may speak with "numerous individuals" during investigations, but does not "confirm or deny any particular contact."
Niceta is facing a few lawsuits stemming from separate cases, including a recently amended suit that argues the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services, Niceta and other county officials violated the constitutional rights of 26 people who say their families were ripped apart due to allegedly fabricated evidence and false sworn testimonies.
COLORADO WOMAN SENTENCED 6 YEARS FOR HIDING KIDS BEHIND DAY CARE WALL
The former social worker is accused of making sexual advances toward some women she was actively investigating in her role as a social worker, and trying to separate children from those women's families if her advances were spurned.
"According to the client, Niceta said that she had gift cards to provide to the mother when she went and visited her child, gave her personal cell phone number and asked her to come to her personal residence to pick up the gift cards. When she arrived there, Niceta invited the target of this investigation into her house, offering her an alcoholic beverage," Elliot Singer, the lawyer who prepared the lawsuit, said in August. "Once this member of the class declined what was clearly sexual advances, Niceta essentially turned on her and did everything in her power to make sure the child was permanently removed."
Niceta was also named in a federal lawsuit filed on Aug. 14 that accuses her and other employees of the Arapahoe County DHS of separating a 14-year-old deaf Muslim girl from her family "based only on deliberate cultural assumptions and bias."
Niceta’s attorney and a spokesperson for Arapahoe County did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment on the false bomb threat case.
from Fox News https://ift.tt/Wa783Nd
via IFTTT
0 Comments