Mar 1, 2019 5 min read

A Washington County judge rejected a plea deal for a Cecil Township woman who’s spent more than three months in jail on charges stemming from a comment she allegedly made to a therapist.

Common Pleas Judge Valarie Costanzo’s decision sent Amanda Jarosh, 39, of Lawrence back to Washington County jail on Wednesday. Jarosh is charged with misdemeanor counts of making a terroristic threat and disorderly conduct.

The plea agreement between county prosecutors and Jarosh’s attorney, Jeff Ries, called for 1 to 23 months’ jail time, with credit for time served since she was arrested on Nov. 9. In exchange, she would plead guilty to the threat charge.

A probationary sentence is within the standard guidelines for someone like Jarosh, who has no prior criminal record.

Costanzo, who lives in Cecil, ordered a new hearing on Monday to give the prosecution time to talk to local police and officials from Canon-McMillan School District about what offer they could accept. Hills-Hendersonville Elementary, which Jarosh allegedly threatened to attack, is part of the district.

“We’re disappointed that Mrs. Jarosh didn’t enter a plea and go home today,” Ries said.

He called his client’s alleged statement a “mistake” that she “would take back” if she could.

In charging papers filed Nov. 9, Det. James Brose – who is married to Hills-Hendersonville Principal Shelley Brose – accused Jarosh of threatening to attack Hills-Hendersonville when Jarosh told a therapist who was working with one of her children who attends the school that she was angry and was “going to shoot up the school and then go home and slit her wrists” three days earlier.

The proposed sentence would have barred Jarosh from contact with officials at the school, “except for legitimate business regarding her children.”

Costanzo appeared to be laying the foundation for her ruling throughout the hearing, grilling Assistant District Attorney Nathan Michaux about a decision he made in January to withdraw felony aggravated assault charges that Sgt. John Holt Jr. had filed on Nov. 13.

That case stemmed from another comment Jarosh allegedly had made to a neighbor the day before her arrest in the first case. The neighbor told police she didn’t think Jarosh was serious until she saw the first case in the news, prompting her to report the conversation.

Jarosh allegedly told the neighbor in an angry, private Facebook message that she was ready to get a rifle and “start taking everyone out,” including the school principal and a teacher.

The aggravated assault charges were filed under a section of state law that penalizes someone who “attempts to cause or intentionally or knowingly causes bodily injury” to a school official. Michaux said he consulted others in his office, including his superiors, and that he was “duty-bound” not to pursue charges that didn’t comport with the law.

He admitted he didn’t discuss the move ahead of time with the district or his department – a decision he called “an oversight” and unintentional.

There was no legal requirement for Michaux to give those parties notice of his decision, but Costanzo took exception to the way he’d handled it.

“It definitely happened in a way that wouldn’t normally happen,” she said.

Brose declined comment.

Township police Chief Shawn Bukovinsky, who attended the proceeding, said afterward he didn’t consider the detective’s marriage to the principal a conflict of interest.

“There was no threat to the officer’s spouse,” he said of the case Brose handled.

Bukovinsky said he assigned the second case – the one Michaux later withdrew – to Holt because Shelley Brose was an alleged victim.

During the hearing, the judge noted that schoolteacher Kelly Ward was shaking when she testified that she still has trouble sleeping and experiences anxiety.

District Superintendent Michael Daniels testified that he had reservations about the proposed sentence.

“I think we’re not sending a strong message in our society today to people who make these threats,” Daniels said.

Daniels also read aloud a letter the district had addressed to Jarosh that said she’s barred from all district property and functions until further notice.

Costanzo repeatedly noted how seriously she took the case before giving the ruling.

District Judge Traci McDonald had set bond at a total of $250,000 later in November when she held the charges for trial before a Common Pleas judge, a month before she announced her bid for a seat on the Common Pleas bench herself.

Even without the second set of charges, Jarosh’s family would have had to post $50,000 bond or have her admitted to an inpatient mental-health facility to secure her release from jail.

Costanzo heard from the defense during the hearing. Ries said his client is remorseful, and she has “tears streaming down her face” every time he meets with her – Wednesday’s hearing included.

Her husband, Thomas Jarosh, told the judge his wife made the alleged statement in a “fit of frustration,” also pointing out there are no weapons in their household. His father, Walter Jarosh, told the judge his daughter-in-law is “very protective and passionate” regarding her three children.

“We need her back to take care of the children,” Walter Jarosh said.