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 2, 2026.
Watonwan County, Minnesota, has about 11,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Minnesota the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the court administrator; the statewide criminal history kept by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is open to anyone who asks. This guide says where each record of a criminal case from Watonwan 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: Watonwan County public records, Watonwan County arrest records, Watonwan County warrants, Watonwan County inmate search, Watonwan County court records, Minnesota arrest records and Minnesota inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Watonwan County District Court
A criminal case from Watonwan County is filed in the Watonwan County District Court, and the court file, kept by the court administrator, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at mncourts.gov/find-courts/watonwan (page title: Watonwan County District Court), a site that blocks automated checks (HTTP 403), so open it in a browser.
Statewide, Minnesota Court Records Online is the Minnesota Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
The Minnesota Criminal History and Your Own Copy
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. The result is the repository record, what agencies reported to the state, which is wider than one county's court index but can lag it.
To see your own record, the route is a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at dps.mn.gov/divisions/bca/bca-divisions/criminal-justice-information....
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Watonwan County
The Watonwan County Sheriff's Office and the agency that reports for St. James keep the arrest records in Watonwan 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.
Together, the two agencies in Watonwan County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 173 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 Watonwan County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Watonwan County in 2025
The two agencies in Watonwan County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 12 violent and 52 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 64 crimes in 2025 against 62 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 Watonwan County public records guide.
The County Attorney for Watonwan County
The County Attorney decides which arrests in Watonwan County become charges and files them in the Watonwan County District Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at watonwancountymn.gov/115/Attorney (page title: Attorney | Watonwan County, MN), phone 507-375-3373, 56081, Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Watonwan County
Registered sex offenders living in Watonwan County are listed on the Minnesota Predatory Offender Registry, run by the Minnesota Department of Corrections at mn.gov. Only Level 3 offenders are listed 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 Watonwan 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 Minnesota Government Data Practices Act a county office must answer a request promptly, within a reasonable time, and it may charge copying, and staff time for requests over 100 pages.
More Official Criminal Records Pages for Watonwan County
The SearchSystems directory, online since 1997, lists the official pages for Watonwan County and Minnesota. These criminal records pages from its Watonwan County listing were opened again on October 2, 2026 and each one still answers:
- Watonwan County Most Wanted (watonwancountymn.gov)
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Watonwan 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.
Can I search Watonwan County criminal cases online?
Minnesota Court Records Online is the Minnesota Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
How do I get my own Minnesota criminal history?
Through a request to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
Who prosecutes crimes in Watonwan County?
The County Attorney, reached at 507-375-3373, which files its cases in the Watonwan County District Court.
Is this the official Watonwan 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.