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 4, 2026.
Moultrie County, Illinois, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Moultrie County Sheriff's Office and three city 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's Attorney files charges, a case in the Circuit Court of Moultrie County. 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: Moultrie County public records, Illinois arrest records, Illinois inmate search and Illinois criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Moultrie County
The Moultrie County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Moultrie County. It reported 45 arrests for 2025.
Arrests inside three of the county's cities are reported to the FBI by an agency of the city's own, listed here with the Census population and what each reported:
- Sullivan, 4,298 residents: 114 arrests reported for 2025.
- Bethany, 1,198 residents: 2 arrests reported for 2025.
- Lovington, 1,020 residents: 3 arrests reported for 2025.
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 Arthur Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Moultrie County, so its arrests are not broken out for Moultrie County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Moultrie County
The FBI publishes every agency's monthly arrest counts 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.
- Sullivan: 114 for 2025, 68 for 2023 and 74 for 2022; 2024 is missing months.
- Moultrie County Sheriff's Office: 45 for 2025, 74 for 2024, 68 for 2023 and 0 for 2019; 2020, 2021 and 2022 are missing months.
- Lovington: 3 for 2025, 7 for 2024, 3 for 2023, 8 for 2022, 6 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
- Bethany: 2 for 2025, 4 for 2024, 8 for 2023, 6 for 2022, 11 for 2021 and 0 for 2020.
Together, the four agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 164 arrests that year. The three of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 50 in 2025 against 85 in 2024, down 41 percent.
Through July 2026, the four agencies with every month so far on file reported 85 arrests, against 97 in the same months of 2025.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Moultrie County Are Held
The county jail is where a person arrested in Moultrie County and kept in custody ends up, whichever agency made the arrest, though a city department may hold someone in its own cells first and a person cited and released at the scene is never booked. The jail's record of each person held, with the charges, is a public record of the arrest, and once the person is released or sentenced the record continues in the court file.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 35 people, up from about 25 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 24 beds, and it ran at 104 percent of it that year. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the jail page of the Moultrie County Sheriff's Office at moultriecountyil.gov/departments/sheriff/jail/index.php (page title: Moultrie County, IL), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the Illinois Department of Corrections lists its inmates at idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Moultrie County
Whether someone was arrested in Moultrie County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Circuit Court of Moultrie County, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at moultriecountyil.gov/departments/circuit_clerk/index.php, phone 217-728-4622); the State's Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at moultriecountyil.gov/departments/state_s_attorney/moultrie_county_s...).
Illinois is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act, through the Illinois State Police. 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 Moultrie County
An arrest report belongs to the agency whose officer wrote it, and that agency releases it, not the court or the jail. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the agency must answer within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension, and it may charge copying only after the first 50 pages.
- An arrest by the Moultrie County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Sullivan, Bethany or Lovington: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the State's Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Circuit Court of Moultrie County, through the court records page at moultriecountyil.gov, phone 217-728-4622.
- Your own statewide record: a name-based or fingerprint-based request to the Illinois State Police.
Cities in Moultrie County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the six cities in Moultrie County: Sullivan, Bethany and Lovington. Dalton City, Gays and Allenville have 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 Circuit Court of Moultrie County.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Moultrie County each year?
Sullivan reported 114 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the four agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 164 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Moultrie County?
Ask the Moultrie County Sheriff's Office; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at moultriecountyil.gov.
Where are people arrested in Moultrie County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Moultrie County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Moultrie County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Illinois State Police: conviction information is public under the Uniform Conviction Information Act. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Moultrie County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Moultrie County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act the answer is due within 5 business days, with one 5-day extension.
Is this the official Moultrie 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.