State agency didn’t verify education credentials of now-discredited psychologist, custody evaluator

DENVER — State regulators did not independently verify the degrees claimed by a now-discredited psychologist who handled dozens of child-custody cases, 9NEWS Investigates has learned.

Shannon McShane – also known by other names, including Shannon Terrell – had asserted that she’d earned a PhD at the University of Hertfordshire in England.

An investigation found that she had no degree. The school’s registrar told state investigators there was no record of her having enrolled there.

She faces a 15-county felony advisement and is free after posting $50,000 bail.

“It’s just really appalling that nothing is verified,” Alyssa Ceda told 9NEWS Investigates. “I mean, I’m no tech wizard or anything like that but to a novice, I guess, kind of technologically savvy person, it seems like it should be relatively easy to verify if somebody was at a university or not.”

A judge appointed McShane as a PRE, a parental responsibilities evaluator, in Ceda’s custody case. She was shocked that McShane had been licensed by the state as both a psychologist and an addiction counselor.

“Who didn’t do their job? Who missed this?” Ceda asked. “You know, can anybody just go up and say, ‘I have a PhD, I’m going to evaluate your home, your family.’”

Lee Rasizer, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, confirmed in an e-mail that no one independently verified McShane’s credentials.

“Ms. McShane submitted the required educational documents for licensure and attested by law on each of her applications that the information she provided was true and correct,” Rasizer wrote.

McShane had been conducting investigations in child-custody cases since at least 2018, as both a PRE and as a CFI, a child family investigator.

In both roles, she worked for the Colorado court system to evaluate parents in custody cases and make recommendations on what was best for the children. Those recommendations often determined which parent got custody and how visitation would be divided.

But on Feb. 15, 2023, a father who grew suspicious of McShane began checking into her background, concluded she didn’t have a PhD, and filed a complaint anonymously with the Department of Regulatory Agencies. That sparked an investigation.

On March 21, 2023, state court officials, responding to the investigation, notified McShane that she could no longer be appointed to handle custody cases.

Despite that, a judge appointed her to Ceda’s custody case on March 28, 2023.

The state suspended her licenses on June 9, 2023, and then revoked them the next month.

“This isn’t, you know, just flipping burgers at a fast-food shop,” Ceda said. “I mean, I had to go through thorough backgrounds and verify my education and everything for my current employment.”

Ceda said she had one phone conversation and several e-mail exchanges with McShane and paid her a $10,000 retainer.

Then she went dark, Ceda said.

When a magistrate ended her role in the case, he also ordered McShane to pay back the $10,000.

“I still have not seen a dime of it paid back,” Ceda said.

Rasizer, the DORA spokesman, said that the offices that oversee mental health licensing are “complaint-driven” and that they “took swift action once discrepancies came to light, which were thoroughly investigated.”

“I guess it’s open to interpretation, but I interpret that as not very swift,” Ceda said. “I mean, if that’s as swift as it can be, then we have bigger problems at hand.”

McShane is due back in court Oct. 14.

Contact 9NEWS investigator Kevin Vaughan with tips about this or any story: kevin.vaughan@9news.com or 303-871-1862.