The charges filed Monday by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office against Lancaster County Coroner Dr. G. Gary Kirchner for allegedly granting newspaper reporters access to a confidential county Web site follows a rocky three-year relationship between Kirchner and county law enforcement that is riddled with harsh words and accusations.

Both Kirchner and District Attorney Donald R. Totaro declined to comment on this story following Monday's indictment, which alleges Kirchner gave reporters his access code, allowing them to view materials on a county Web site restricted for use by the coroner and others.

The indictment stems from an investigation begun by Totaro's office in 2005, but tensions between Kirchner and law enforcement officials, including Totaro, date to shortly after Kirchner took office in 2004 after being elected in November 2003.

Kirchner, the son of a Lancaster Newspapers sports editor and himself an occasional columnist for the Sunday News before he became coroner, is a firm supporter of free and open access of information to the public.

However, his policy flew in the face of local law enforcement officials, whom reporters both inside and outside the county have found to be extremely tight-lipped.

In 2004, Kirchner took his first shot, saying the secrecy surrounding two well-publicized 2003 killings could result in neither case ever being solved.

The first was the death of Baltimore federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna, who had been stabbed 32 times and drowned in a Brecknock Township creek. Kirchner complained police divulged little information, noting that even after the penknife used in the stabbing was found, investigators refused to confirm the weapon's discovery.

The second case involved "Baby Allison," an infant whose lifeless body was found in a trash barrel outside a Strasburg Township school.

Kirchner said it took three months before investigators divulged that "blood evidence" had been found in the restroom of the Turkey Hill Minit Market at 257 Decatur St., Strasburg, which is where it's believed the child had been born. Had the information been made public sooner, Kirchner said, more witnesses might have come forward.

Outraged police officials, in a letter to the newspapers, said Kirchner had "absolutely no training or experience in law enforcement" and accused him of jeopardizing crime-scene investigations, creating, they said, the "potential to allow criminals to escape justice."

The letter also accused Kirchner of being loose-lipped and heavy-handed at crime scenes and suggested he might have damaged some of their cases.

Kirchner apologized in writing, citing his newness to the job and his background in journalism and its quest for information. He pledged to "solve the 'big mouth' and 'talks too much' problem," and he began meeting with Totaro on a regular basis.

He also agreed to volunteer less information to the media and to keep the coroner's office's "hands off" crime scenes until investigations were complete.

Things got better for a while.

In 2005, Totaro learned Kirchner might have breached the county's 911 emergency system by giving his password to reporters.

At the time, Kirchner denied the charge, saying, "If I gave it out and (the media) used it, they would know who gave it out. I am not a fool."

Accusations and denials flew back and forth before Totaro handed the case over to the state attorney general's office.

Then last year came the case of David and Amy Blodgett, who were shot in June at their wedding reception at their Lancaster home.

On Nov. 23, Blodgett died of an apparent heart attack. Upon his death, the Gift of Life organ donation program asked Kirchner to sign off on the donation of Blodgett's organs.

Kirchner consented, later saying he didn't realize at the time that a bullet lodged in Blodgett's hip might have contributed to his death.

Totaro, however, said the death could be classified a homicide, and he ordered an autopsy. But Blodgett's organs had already been harvested. The organs were later returned.

A miffed Totaro said Kirchner should have called for an autopsy, and by not doing so had compromised "relevant evidence."

Kirchner said he did not recall Blodgett had been shot five months earlier.

"I do not consider that to be a mistake," Kirchner said at the time. "The coroner did not make a mistake. The coroner simply did not remember a gunshot wound in June.

"What the hell? I don't remember everything that has happened. And no, I didn't put two and two together, no. That's not a mistake, and that's not a fault. There were no circumstances presented that would have made it a coroner's case."

Larry Alexander's e-mail address is lalexander@lnpnews.com.