Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. The jail figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Lake County, Florida, has about 444,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Lake County Sheriff's Office, 13 city agencies and six campus, state or other agencies. An arrest leaves the same records whoever makes it: the arresting agency's report, the record of anyone held at the county jail, and, if the State Attorney files charges, a case in the Lake County Circuit Court. This guide says who keeps each one, what it costs and who may see it, with the arrest counts each agency reported.
This guide covers who makes arrests, how many arrests, booking and the jail, finding an arrest, copies, cities and common questions.
Related guides: Lake County public records, Florida arrest records, Florida inmate search and Florida criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Lake County
The Lake County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Lake County.
The FBI lists 13 cities in Lake County with a reporting agency of their own, with the Census population and what each reported, the largest twelve first; the rest are named in the cities section below:
- Clermont, 50,851 residents.
- Leesburg, 37,815 residents: 950 arrests reported for 2025.
- Eustis, 25,067 residents.
- Groveland, 24,602 residents.
- Tavares, 22,007 residents.
- Minneola, 19,675 residents.
- Mount Dora, 18,261 residents.
- Lady Lake, 17,288 residents.
- Mascotte, 9,150 residents: 406 arrests reported for 2025.
- Fruitland Park, 8,962 residents.
- Umatilla, 3,976 residents.
- Astatula, 2,266 residents.
A city on that list is reported separately whether the officers are the city's own or the sheriff's under contract; the FBI's list does not say which.
The FBI's agency list also places these agencies in Lake County: the Department of Corrections, Office of the Inspector General in Lake County, the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco in Lake County, the Lake County Florida Game Commission, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Office of Agricultural Law Enforcement at Lake and one more (state agency); the Highway Patrol in Lake County (state police).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Lake County
Each agency reports its arrests to the FBI by month, and the FBI publishes them on the Crime Data Explorer. These are the full-year totals, all offenses, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026; a year with months missing or not reported is left out.
- Leesburg: 950 for 2025, 925 for 2023 and 878 for 2022; 2024 is missing months.
- Howey-in-the-Hills: 79 for 2025, 84 for 2024 and 117 for 2023.
- Mascotte: 406 for 2025.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 1,042 arrests that year. The one of them with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 925 in 2023 against 878 in 2022, up 5.4 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Lake County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Lake County is held at the county jail, whichever agency made the arrest, apart from the short stay some city departments' own holding cells allow; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked at all. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and the court file takes over from there.
So far in 2026 the jail has held about 720 people on an average day, down from about 880 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2023, the last year with a capacity figure, was 830 beds, and it ran at 101 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Lake County Sheriff's Office at lcso.org/inmate-search (page title: Inmate Search), phone 352-343-2101, 360 W. Ruby St. Tavares, FL 32778, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 1, 2026.
That page is the place to look for someone who was booked recently; a person cited and released at the scene, or held only a few hours by a city department, will not be on it.
A person sentenced to prison serves the sentence in a facility of the Florida Department of Corrections, whose inmate locator is at fdc.myflorida.com.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Lake County
Whether someone was arrested in Lake County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the custody page of the Lake County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; the case index of the Lake County Circuit Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyclerkfl.gov/departments/courts-management/court-data-reco..., phone 352-742-4100).
Florida is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24 a search, through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. That record shows what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Lake County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) the agency must answer promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the copy fees set by statute, plus a special service charge for large requests.
- An arrest by the Lake County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 352-343-2101.
- An arrest in Clermont, Leesburg, Eustis, Groveland, Tavares, Minneola or another of the cities listed above: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city; the city guides linked above name each city's records office.
- An arrest by the Department of Corrections, Office of the Inspector General in Lake County, the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco in Lake County or the Lake County Florida Game Commission: the records office of the agency involved.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Lake County Circuit Court, through the court records page at lakecountyclerkfl.gov, phone 352-742-4100.
- Any county record that is not posted: the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyclerkfl.gov (page title: Public Records Requests).
- Your own statewide record: the same request described above, for your own name.
The other Lake County guides go further: warrants, inmate search, criminal records, court records, police reports, traffic tickets, DUI, divorce records and property records.
Cities in Lake County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for 13 of the 14 cities in Lake County: the twelve named above and Howey-in-the-Hills. Montverde has no separate reporting agency in the FBI's list.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Lake County Circuit Court.
SearchSystems has a guide to the offices of these cities in Lake County, with the 2024 Census Bureau population; a city with its own arrest records guide opens there:
- Clermont (50,851)
- Leesburg (37,815)
- Eustis (25,067)
- Groveland (24,602)
- Tavares (22,007)
- Mount Dora (18,261)
- Lady Lake (17,288)
- Fruitland Park (8,962)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Lake County each year?
Leesburg reported 950 arrests to the FBI for 2025. For 2023, the latest year most of the agencies in Lake County sent in full, the two with every month on file reported 1,042 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Lake County?
Look on the custody page of the Lake County Sheriff's Office at lcso.org/inmate-search, or call 352-343-2101. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Lake County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Lake County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Lake County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement: anyone can run a name-based criminal history search online for $24, for $24. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119).
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Lake County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Lake County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Florida Public Records Act (Chapter 119) the answer is due promptly and in good faith; the statute sets no number of days; the county records request page SearchSystems verified is at lakecountyclerkfl.gov.
Is this the official Lake County website?
No. SearchSystems.net is an independent public records guide, online since 1997. It links to the official county, court and state offices described above and does not hold records, charge for them or take requests.