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 2, 2026.
Wadena County, Minnesota, has about 14,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Wadena 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 County Attorney files charges, a case in the Wadena County District 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: Wadena County public records, Minnesota arrest records, Minnesota inmate search and Minnesota criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Wadena County
The Wadena County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Wadena County. It reported 91 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:
- Wadena, 4,373 residents: 134 arrests reported for 2025.
- Menahga, 1,366 residents: 15 arrests reported for 2025.
- Sebeka, 753 residents: 0 arrests reported for 2024.
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 Staples Police Department is listed by the FBI across two counties including Wadena County, so its arrests are not broken out for Wadena County here.
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Wadena 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.
- Wadena: 134 for 2025, 101 for 2024, 147 for 2023, 177 for 2022, 195 for 2021 and 238 for 2020.
- Wadena County Sheriff's Office: 91 for 2025, 114 for 2024, 54 for 2021, 134 for 2020 and 148 for 2019; 2022 and 2023 are missing months.
- Menahga: 15 for 2025, 20 for 2024, 9 for 2023 and 3 for 2022.
- Sebeka: 0 for 2024, 0 for 2023 and 0 for 2022.
Together, the three agencies with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 240 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 240 in 2025 against 235 in 2024, up 2.1 percent.
Through August 2026, the three agencies with every month so far on file reported 127 arrests, against 159 in the same months of 2025.
Sebeka reported only part of 2025 (11 months) and is left out of the totals.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Wadena County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Wadena 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.
On an average day in 2021 the jail held about 14 people, down from about 25 in 2019. The figures are from the Vera Institute of Justice's Incarceration Trends data.
SearchSystems opened and checked the custody page of the Wadena County Sheriff's Office at wadenacounty.gov/204/In-Custody-List (page title: In Custody List | Wadena County, MN), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 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.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Wadena County
An arrest in Wadena County can be traced in three places, depending on where the case stands: the custody page of the Wadena County Sheriff's Office described above, for anyone booked into the county jail; Minnesota Court Records Online, the Minnesota Judicial Branch's free statewide case search, which shows whether charges were filed; the County Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at wadenacounty.gov/154/Attorney, phone 800-292-4152).
Minnesota is one of the states that lets anyone look up another person's statewide criminal history: the public criminal history search online is free and shows 15 years of convictions, through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. 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 Wadena 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 Minnesota Government Data Practices Act the agency must answer promptly, within a reasonable time, and it may charge copying, and staff time for requests over 100 pages.
- An arrest by the Wadena County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit.
- An arrest in Wadena, Menahga or Sebeka: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the County Attorney, 800-292-4152, handles discovery for pending cases.
- Your own statewide record: a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Cities in Wadena County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for three of the six cities in Wadena County: Wadena, Menahga and Sebeka. Verndale, Nimrod and Aldrich 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 Wadena County District Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Wadena County each year?
Wadena reported 134 arrests to the FBI for 2025, and the three agencies with every month of 2025 on file reported 240 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Wadena County?
Look on the custody page of the Wadena County Sheriff's Office at wadenacounty.gov/204/In-Custody-List. It covers people booked into the county jail.
Where are people arrested in Wadena County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Wadena County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Wadena County?
The court files of criminal cases are public, and so is the statewide criminal history kept by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension: the public criminal history search online is free and shows 15 years of convictions. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Wadena County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Wadena County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act the answer is due promptly, within a reasonable time.
Is this the official Wadena 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.