Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest and crime counts are the ones each agency reported to the FBI, as the FBI held them on October 8, 2026. Every office link was opened and checked against the office's own site between September 24, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Clay County, Kentucky, has about 20,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Kentucky the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Court Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Clay County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the crimes behind the records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests, directory links and common questions.
Related guides: Clay County public records, Clay County arrest records, Clay County warrants, Clay County inmate search, Clay County court records, Kentucky arrest records and Kentucky inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Clay Circuit Court
In Kentucky the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Clay County are heard by the Clay Circuit Court, which hears felonies, civil cases over $5,000, divorces and appeals from the district court; the District Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, small claims, probate and juvenile matters, and the file of each case is kept by the Circuit Court Clerk.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at kycourts.gov/Courts/County-Information/Pages/Clay.aspx (page title: Clay | Kentucky Court of Justice), phone 606-598-3663, 316 Main St. Suite 108 Manchester, KY 40962, Monday 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
Kentucky has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Kentucky Criminal History and Your Own Copy
In Kentucky the public route to a statewide criminal record is the court system's own search: the Administrative Office of the Courts, not the state police, sells name-based criminal record reports to the public, at $25 a search. It covers cases that reached a court, not arrests that never did. The search is on the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts site.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Clay County
The Clay County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for Manchester keep the arrest records in Clay County: the report and the booking record of each arrest stay with the agency that made it, separate from the court file and from the state repository.
The FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Clay County: Clay County Schools (other agency); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the two agencies in Clay County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 696 arrests to the FBI that year; how each case ended is in the court file, not in the arresting agency's.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Clay County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Clay County in 2025
The two agencies in Clay County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 5 violent and 57 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 62 crimes in 2025 against 98 in 2024. Each reported crime is a report on file with the agency that took it, and each arrest that follows is the start of a criminal record.
The full crime section, agency by agency, is on the Clay County public records guide.
The Commonwealth's Attorney for Clay County
Charges in Clay County are filed by the Commonwealth's Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Clay Circuit Court or the District Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at wymt.com/2024/05/22/haley-jo-fields-beats-incumbent-41st-circuit-co... (page title: Haley Jo Fields beats incumbent in 41st Circuit Commonwealth’s Attorney race), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Clay County
Registered sex offenders living in Clay County are listed on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry, run by the Kentucky State Police at kspsor.state.ky.us. The registry is public and can be searched online.
Registration itself is done in person with the local agency where the registrant lives: the sheriff's office, or the city police in a city with its own department.
Asking an Agency in Clay County for a Record
An arrest report, a booking record or a local criminal history letter comes from the agency that holds it, not from the court.
Under the Kentucky Open Records Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying, 10 cents a page for standard copies. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at clay.clerkinfo.net/?page_id=929 (page title: Open Records Request | Clay County Clerk).
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Clay County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Clay County and Kentucky. These criminal records pages from its Clay County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Kentucky Offender Search (kool.corrections.ky.gov)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Clay County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts: the Administrative Office of the Courts, not the state police, sells name-based criminal record reports to the public, for $25. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Kentucky Open Records Act.
Can I search Clay County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at kycourts.gov (page title: Clay | Kentucky Court of Justice).
How do I get my own Kentucky criminal history?
Through the same court record report, run on yourself.
Who prosecutes crimes in Clay County?
The Commonwealth's Attorney, which files its cases in the Clay Circuit Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Clay 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.