Former Denver DHS child-protective case worker arrested for alleged false reports

A former Denver Department of Human Services child-protective case worker was arrested on Thursday on 17 felony counts for allegedly falsifying official reports to make it appear she had conducted interviews during child abuse and child sex abuse investigations that never occurred.

Jessica Peck, a lawyer, alleged in January to the Denver human services department that Christina Gray, the agency’s lead intake social caseworker for child abuse investigations, had falsified official reports involving alleged child sex abuse.

Gray, now 39, resigned from her position on February 29.

Denver police did not start investigating Gray for the alleged fabrications in reports until April 2, according to a police report.

“It is an atrocity that a person who fabricated no less than four child sex abuse interviews was allowed to resign, who should have been immediately fired,” Peck said in an interview. “It casts doubt on the integrity of the agency in its entirety and in the way such material misconduct is treated.”

Peck claimed the agency further had been negligent in failing to immediately report to Denver police alleged misconduct by Gray. Peck said that she was the one who got police interested in pursuing a case.

“We applaud Denver police for doing the right thing and taking this so seriously,” Peck said.

In one instance, Gray alleged she had conducted a home visit to investigate allegations of child sex abuse against a 7-year-old girl by an individual that was not the girl’s parent. During the supposed home visit by the case worker, the mother of the child — Peck's client — actually had been taking a bath and had been talking to her boyfriend, the police report states.

Gray also submitted reports stating that she had talked to the child’s therapist when the therapist claimed she had never been contacted by Gray, according to the arrest warrant and probable cause affidavit.

Gray was placed on a personal improvement plan in 2023 for overdue case work, the warrant further states.

A review of Gray’s cell phone and work phone also found that Gray repeatedly was not at locations she claimed she had visited during her intake casework on at least eight other cases, the police report stated. A police analysis of her cell phone and work phone also determined that those phones had not been used to call the alleged victims in those cases, according to the arrest warrant.

Gray was being held at the Denver City Jail following her arrest. She faces 17 felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant.

The arrest of Gray follows other recent scandals in Colorado of criminal charges filed against child-protective case workers for allegedly falsifying records and making it appear they had assessed a child’s safety when those assessments had not been done.

At least four child-protective workers have been charged criminally in Colorado for such alleged falsification since 2015. In at least one case, a child-protective employee was rehired by anther county department prior to the filing of criminal charges.

A former Larimer County child-protective worker on Monday, who originally faced 99 criminal charges for alleged misdeeds in her job, pleaded guilty to two of the charges against her and will be sentenced in November.

Stephanie Villafuerte, Colorado’s Child Protection Ombudsman, said she did not believe a state task force on child welfare issues had adequately addressed the issue of fraudulent child-protective case work. She said her office will pursue legislation in the upcoming legislative session to further address fraudulent activity of case workers.