A Colorado parent uncovers a custody expert’s fake credentials, launches investigation and arrest

A Colorado woman who worked as a child and family investigator and parental evaluator in custody cases across the state was recently indicted by a grand jury for using false identification to obtain her state license.

The Colorado Attorney General’s Office filed a 15-count indictment against Shannon McShane on August 29. The charges – forgery, perjury, attempting to influence a public official and retaliation against a witness – are all felonies.

Without the detective work of an anonymous parent, the state may never have discovered McShane’s alleged fraud.

McShane, 57, of Monument, received a state license as a psychologist in 2017. In addition to child custody cases, she worked as a certified and state-licensed addiction counselor.

McShane testified under oath in court proceedings in Colorado that she earned a doctorate in psychology from the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. She said the same thing about applying for employment with the Colorado Department of Corrections and the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The anonymous parent, a father involved in an Arapahoe County custody case reviewed by McShane, contacted the University of Hertfordshire directly, according to the indictment. The father began investigating McShane’s background after McShane first interviewed him as part of his then-wife’s divorce proceedings.

“Ms. MCSHANE’s doctoral degree is not verifiable,” the father wrote in a complaint filed with the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) in February 2023. “She says she received her doctorate in psychology in 2017, but this was not possible because she was also in Texas during that time and completed her master’s degree at Texas State University after 2017, according to the indictment.

Note: The father is identified in the indictment. CBS News Colorado is not releasing his identity because of concerns about possible retaliation from McShane and possible loss of his job, both concerns he has raised with DORA investigators and prosecutors.

The father later shared with DORA an email exchange he had with Roxanne Garara, associate director of academic services at the University of Hertfordshire. On March 7, 2023, Garara sent him an email that stated, in part, “I can confirm that the University has no record of a student by the name of Shannon MCSHANE,” according to the indictment.

During this time, McShane allegedly contacted the father’s employer – despite the complaint being submitted anonymously. The indictment does not go into detail about how McShane obtained the father’s personal information. But it describes how McShane complained to the father’s employer that the father was “internet stalking” her during work hours.

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In her defense, McShane even sent her copy of a “Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Clinical Psychology,” which was reportedly awarded in 2017 to Brian D. Boatright, then Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court. DORA investigators forwarded the document to the University of Hertfordshire for review.

Garara from the university replied that the document was fake.

Meanwhile, the state was already investigating a complaint against McShane that a Morgan County judge filed in 2022.

The judge presiding over a protective order hearing at which McShane appeared as an expert witness “remembered that she had written a persuasive report in favor of one party over the other,” the indictment says. The judge “stated that it was probably the most biased report he had ever seen from authorized CFIs (Child and Family Investigators) in the 13th Judicial District.”

DORA suspended McShane in June 2023. A DORA spokesperson confirmed to CBS News Colorado that McShane permanently surrendered all of her state licenses the following month.

McShane was jailed within a week of the grand jury indictment. She posted $50,000 bail on Oct. 2, a day after the attorney general’s office distributed a news release about the case.

“Defrauding the state of Colorado and engaging in unlicensed practice as a psychologist in a manner that impacts our justice system is a serious breach of public trust,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in the release. “In this case, we want to hold Shannon McShane accountable for her alleged behavior and send a message that this behavior is intolerable.”

When asked by CBS News Colorado whether McShane’s alleged misconduct had any impact on the outcome of previous or current court cases, a spokesman for the state court administrator’s office declined to comment.