Nov 6, 2025 By Mike Jones 6 min read

The rift between Washington County’s district attorney and coroner deepened Wednesday when several county detectives, state police troopers and local police officers served a search warrant on the coroner’s office to retrieve autopsy reports and other information for five deaths under investigation.

Coroner Timothy Warco instructed his staff to cooperate with investigators as the officers spent about an hour inside his West Chestnut Street office in Washington serving five search warrants for four shooting deaths and a drug overdose in the county.

As the investigators from multiple departments filed out of the office, Kip Yarosh, who serves as chief detective for the Washington County district attorney’s office, calmly spoke about the situation to Warco, who was seated in the lobby watching the police officers stream past him with bundles of the death investigation reports.

“They’re not pushing me around. I will go to my grave (saying) what they’re doing is wrong,” Warco told three deputy coroners who were seated in the office following the search. “I did not commit a crime (but) I didn’t want them to trash the office.”

District Attorney Jason Walsh said the search warrants, which were signed earlier in the day by District Judge Kelly Stewart, were needed because investigators have been unable to get critical information from the coroner’s office, such as autopsy or toxicology reports, even as homicide defendants in three cases have been charged and are scheduled to go to trial.

“Some of them have already been charged past the preliminary hearing and we’re in discovery,” Walsh said. “We have repeatedly asked – we’ve sent emails, letters – for these records.”

The five cases involve two shooting deaths in Washington, a fatal shooting in Canonsburg, a deadly shooting in Smith Township and a fatal overdose in which the person died at UPMC Washington Hospital. Police officers from departments in Washington and Canonsburg along with state police troopers accompanied the county detectives during the search.

It’s the second time in less than two years in which county detectives have seized documents from Warco’s office. In late November and early December 2023, detectives took numerous investigative documents from Warco’s office and then later at the Carnegie office for his solicitor, Timothy Uhrich. That triggered litigation before Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Michael Lucas that has been mostly dormant over the past year as tensions appeared to cool between the two sides.

In addition to Wednesday’s search, Walsh also filed a motion to compel before President Judge Valarie Costanzo with a hearing scheduled for Nov. 13.

“What is the commonwealth supposed to do if we have a coroner who won’t do his job?” Walsh asked. “He won’t do it. He refuses to do it. He won’t cooperate with law enforcement. He obstructs and interferes.”

Warco said he did not turn over some of his death investigation reports because he has been unable to determine the manner of death in some cases since he has not been granted police reports that include preliminary investigative information. He pointed to an inquiry into the Oct. 11 shooting on North Main Street in Washington that killed 20-year-old Jullian Lassic as still being open since he does not have enough information yet to rule it as a homicide. No one has been charged in that shooting, and Walsh declined to comment on specifics of the case.

However, it’s unclear why the other coroner’s investigation into the shooting deaths requested in the other search warrants have not been finalized since suspects have been charged with homicide and are on their way to trial.

Warco claimed Yarosh told him they would “trash” the office looking for the documents if the staff tried to obstruct the officers. Warco added a state police trooper threatened to arrest him if he did not comply with their search.

“Obviously, I don’t feel good. It disrupts the day-in and day-out operations of the coroner’s office,” Warco said about Wednesday’s search. “I feel for my staff. They didn’t have to go through this.”

Uhrich, who spoke to Warco by telephone, called it a “bully and intimidation” tactic by the district attorney’s office.

“They come in and take reports that they weren’t permitted to have,” Uhrich said. “There’s no crime (alleged in the search warrant). What did they do to compel this magistrate for what is an unlawful search?”

Walsh disputed that, saying the crime alleged in each search warrant is the shootings that left people dead, or the fatal overdose. He also questioned why the coroner’s office was charging investigators hundreds of dollars for the “fee schedule” on reports that the public typically pays.

“We were told that we would be charged a fee. A fee from a county office that we or the municipality would have to pay,” Walsh said. “He’s trying to extort money from taxpayers. Law enforcement is entitled to these records. We were left with no other choice with these active investigations to get these records.”

Capt. Jeremy Barni, who is commander of the state police barracks near Washington, also questioned the charging of fees for investigative records.

“It was discovered that multiple reports were being withheld from the District Attorney’s Office by the Washington County Coroner, pending payment for their release” Barni said in a written statement. “Under Pennsylvania statute, non-governmental entities may be charged fees for these types of records. However, government agencies such as the District Attorney’s Office, are not subject to such charges.”

The relationship between Walsh and Warco had been frosty over the past two years with the previous searches. But the two elected row officers have become adversaries over the last several months after Warco claimed Walsh coerced him to rule the manner of May 2022 death for an infant in Peters Township as homicide despite his apparent misgivings. Warco’s sworn affidavit claiming coercion is now part of the files in a “king’s bench” petition asking the state Supreme Court to restrict Walsh’s ability to seek the death penalty against homicide defendants.