Nov 15, 2018 4 min read

A Cecil Township woman remains in jail on a six-figure bond on criminal charges that snowballed from a violent fantasy which she confided to her therapist in anger with officials at her children’s school.

“She’s not a credible threat to herself or the school district,” defense attorney Jeffrey Ries said of 39-year-old Amanda Jarosh. “Merely frustration with the school, and I think it was blown out of proportion.”

Jarosh – in handcuffs and wearing an orange jumpsuit issued by the Washington County jail – appeared before District Judge Traci McDonald, who ordered her to stand trial on charges township police filed in two cases alleging she’d discussed going on a shooting spree at Hills-Hendersonville Elementary School.

During the preliminary hearing, McDonald also set bond at $250,000. District Judge Jesse Pettit, who arraigned Jarosh in the second case, had previously denied her bond.

She was also referred for a mental health evaluation.

The first charges, filed Nov. 9, stemmed from a phone conversation Jarosh had that day with therapist Jennifer Deems of Washington Family Behavioral Resources.

During that discussion, Jarosh “stated that she was not happy with the school and that she was ‘going to shoot up the school and then go home and slit her wrists,'” according to court papers.

Deems’s supervisor, Stephanie Mullen, reported the purported statement to the school, which is part of the affluent Canon-McMillan School District. Two of Jarosh’s three children attend the school.

The treatment center and school both relayed the alleged threat to police.

Detective James Brose spoke to Jarosh that day. He wrote she admitted what she said, but also “stated that she was upset at the time and she didn’t really mean it.”

Police arrested her and filed two counts of making terroristic threats and one of disorderly conduct, all misdemeanors.

The next day, Linda Hanjorgiris reported to police that in an exchange of Facebook messages, Jarosh had told her she was going to “get my own AR-15 and start taking people out. First up is the the teacher and principal and everyone else can take a number.”

She added she was so angry at “everyone” that “I am ready to (expletive) down all my pills and be done with all this (expletive) (expletive).”

Hanjogiris told police she’d assumed her neighbor was joking until she saw on the news Jarosh had been charged in the first case.

Brose’s colleague Sgt. John Holt added two felony counts of aggravated assault to the earlier charges. That case was filed under a section of state law that allows police to charge someone who “attempts to cause or intentionally or knowingly causes bodily injury” to a school official.

Jarosh’s intent behind the statements she made privately to the therapist and her neighbor will be important to the case if it ultimately goes to trial.

Assistant District Attorney Nathan Michaux told McDonald several times that question would make a “great trial issue.”

Michaux declined comment following the proceeding.

Therapists are required to make a report to authorities if they believe a patient is a threat to his or her self or others.

The legal system is meant to be a way to evaluate cases on their particulars, rather than broader societal circumstances; still, the things Jarosh allegedly said made their way into the attention of school officials and police at a time when lethal mass shootings dominate the news cycle.

Brose was one of several officers who testified Thursday. Asked following the hearing whether or not his department considered trying to have Jarosh committed to a treatment facility instead of charging her, the investigator said the purpose of the case is “not to punish” and he wasn’t opposed to treatment.

But, he added: “People can escape from halfway houses. People can escape from mental health facilities. The only thing that’s going to give parents peace of mind is if she’s in a correctional facility.”

Ries called the charges “probably inappropriate” and said his client had “no intent” to follow through on what she said. She’s never been charged with a crime previously, and has no guns in her household.

“Especially considering the felonies that were charged, I don’t believe the crimes fit the definition,” Ries said. “And that’ll be something that we deal with down the road.”

Ries said the public attention accompanying the case probably weighs on his client, who’s struggled with a mental health disorder.

“Depending on what the diagnosis in the mental health evaluation shows,” Ries said, “I think this sort of publicity is going to be difficult for her.”