Despite two Arapahoe County child-protective workers allegedly engaging in fraudulent practice so severe they were referred for prosecution, a state evaluation released on Friday concluded there are no ongoing, systemic problems with the county’s child-protective agency.

The evaluation, conducted by consultants hired by the Colorado Department of Human Services, also detected “no evidence of systemic concerns of falsification of contacts.”

A previous state audit concluded in September that a former Arapahoe County child-protective worker, Robin Niceta — who faces felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with an alleged retaliation plot — failed to follow state regulations and had deficient investigative practices when she worked for the county.

That audit recommended an additional level of review of Arapahoe County’s entire child-protective system, and the county released the results of that evaluation to the public on Friday.

The evaluation released Friday reviewed four years of activity between the Colorado Department of Human Services and the Arapahoe County agency as well as a sampling of case work of county staffers. Staffers and supervisors were also interviewed, and performance data surveyed.

The evaluators removed from their analysis a second child-protective worker accused of fraudulently reporting contacts in the state’s child-protective case-work tracking system for investigations. The report said that staffer “had already been terminated” from the county and “the confirmed falsification was turned over to the District Attorney’s Office for prosecution.”

The Denver Gazette confirmed the staffer identified in the evaluation report was not Niceta. County officials did not immediately respond to questions about the former staffer’s work. Court documents show that authorities charged Ranubia Scott, a county caseworker, with a felony forgery charge for allegedly falsifying documents and a misdemenaor case of official misconduct related to her conduct in office. The charges are pending.

The report states four other caseworkers were fired for personal or performance issues. They were not identified in the report.

The review said the evaluators examined a sample of 95 contacts staffers reported making in 667 open child abuse and child neglect assessment cases from October 1, 2022 through January 10, 2023 — months after Niceta was criminally charged in May 2022.

“Of the 95 contacts reviewed, all 95 were verified as having occurred,” the evaluation report states.

Niceta’s trial on charges of felony attempt to influence a public servant and misdemeanor false report of child abuse is pending. Prosecutors also allege she falsified that she was suffering from brain cancer to avoid prosecution and have asked the judge to allow them to use evidence of false medical records during the trial.

Niceta was charged in connection with an alleged retaliation plot against Aurora Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky. Jurinsky was an outspoken critic of the Aurora police chief at the time, Vanessa Wilson, who then was Niceta’s romantic partner. Niceta and Wilson, who was fired in April 2022, have since broken up.

Prosecutors allege Niceta falsely reported an anonymous tip to the child abuse hotline where Niceta worked accusing Jurinsky of sexually abusing Jurinsky’s 2-year-old son. Niceta made the call after Jurinsky had, during a talk radio show, called for the firing of Wilson.

The false allegation launched an initial review of Jurinsky’s parenting, which ultimately cleared Jurinsky of any wrongdoing. Jurinsky on Friday criticized the new evaluation report as a “total whitewash.”

“I’m in shock right now,” Jurinsky said. “We have two liars that affected potentially hundreds of families. And yet you give an A plus rating. The hypocrisy in this report is huge.”

Dozens of parents have come forward seeking class-action designation for a federal lawsuit filed by Jurinsky against the Arapahoe County Department of Human Services. They contend they were harmed through false testimony and fraudulent practices.

The evaluation released on Friday was conducted by Marc Winokur, Judy Rodriguez and Corey Johnson. The state department of human services reported hiring them to conduct an “independent, third-party evaluation” because they had “extensive knowledge” of Colorado’s “child welfare system, its regulations and accepted best practices.”

“We never take lightly the critical role our human services employees play in protecting children and vulnerable adults,” said Carrie Warren-Gully, chair of the Arapahoe Board of Commissioners. “We’re grateful to the Colorado Department of Human Services for the professional, thorough and sensitive review of our intake systems and we are gratified in the knowledge that the system works and continues to improve every day.”