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 23, 2026 and October 9, 2026.
Charles County, Maryland, has about 174,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Maryland the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Criminal Justice Information System is released only to its subject and to the employers and agencies the law allows. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Charles 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: Charles County public records, Charles County arrest records, Charles County warrants, Charles County inmate search, Charles County court records, Maryland arrest records and Maryland inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Circuit Court for Charles County
A criminal case from Charles County is filed in the Circuit Court for Charles County or the District Court of Maryland, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, landlord-tenant cases and civil claims up to $30,000, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Charles County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at courts.state.md.us/courtsdirectory/charles (page title: Charles County | Maryland Courts), phone 301-932-3201, 200 Charles Street La Plata, MD 20646, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, Maryland Judiciary Case Search is the free statewide case search of every Maryland court.
The Maryland Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Criminal Justice Information System is closed to the public in Maryland: it is released to its subject and to authorized employers and licensing agencies, and a member of the public uses the court's own case index instead.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the CJIS Central Repository. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at dpscs.maryland.gov/publicservs/bgchecks.shtml.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Charles County
The Charles County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for La Plata keep the arrest records in Charles 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 Charles County: the Charles County State Police (state police); it keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the two agencies in Charles County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,596 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 Charles County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Charles County in 2025
The two agencies in Charles County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 467 violent and 1,706 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 2,173 crimes in 2025 against 2,441 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 Charles County public records guide.
The State's Attorney for Charles County
The State's Attorney decides which arrests in Charles County become charges and files them in the Circuit Court for Charles County or the District Court of Maryland; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at ccsao.us/the-office/executive-team (page title: Meet Our Attorneys | CCSAO), 200 Charles St., La Plata, MD 20646, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 9, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Charles County
Registered sex offenders living in Charles County are listed on the Maryland Sex Offender Registry, run by the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services at dpscs.maryland.gov. 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 Charles 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 Maryland Public Information Act a county office must answer a request within 30 days, with a denial due within 10 working days, and it may charge staff time after the first two hours, plus copying.
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Charles County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Charles County and Maryland. These criminal records pages from its Charles County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Charles County Most Wanted (ccso.us)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Charles County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Circuit Court for Charles County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, Criminal Justice Information System is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Maryland Public Information Act.
Can I search Charles County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courts.state.md.us/courtsdirectory/charles (page title: Charles County | Maryland Courts). Statewide, Maryland Judiciary Case Search is the free statewide case search of every Maryland court.
How do I get my own Maryland criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the CJIS Central Repository.
Who prosecutes crimes in Charles County?
The State's Attorney, which files its cases in the Circuit Court for Charles County or the District Court of Maryland.
Is this the official Charles 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.