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.
Alleghany County, North Carolina, has about 11,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate), and arrests there are reported to the FBI by the Alleghany County Sheriff's Office, one city agency and one state agency. 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 District Attorney files charges, a case in the Alleghany County Superior 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: Alleghany County public records, North Carolina arrest records, North Carolina inmate search and North Carolina criminal records.
Who Makes Arrests in Alleghany County
The Alleghany County Sheriff's Office is the county agency that reports arrests to the FBI for Alleghany County. It reported 181 arrests for 2024, its latest complete year.
One city in Alleghany County reports its arrests to the FBI separately:
- Sparta, 1,894 residents: 115 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 FBI's agency list also places one more agency in Alleghany County: the State Park Rangers at Stone Mountain (state agency).
How Many Arrests Each Agency Reports in Alleghany 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.
- Alleghany County Sheriff's Office: 181 for 2024, 185 for 2023, 197 for 2022, 229 for 2021, 174 for 2020 and 275 for 2019.
- Sparta: 115 for 2024 and 138 for 2023.
Together, the two agencies with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 296 arrests that year. The same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 296 in 2024 against 323 in 2023, down 8.4 percent.
Booking: Where People Arrested in Alleghany County Are Held
A person kept in custody after an arrest in Alleghany 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 2024 the jail held about 34 people, up from about 32 in 2019. Its rated capacity in 2019, the last year with a capacity figure, was 76 beds, and it ran at 42 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 Alleghany County Sheriff's Office at alleghanycounty-nc.gov/sheriffs-office (page title: Sheriff’s Office | Alleghany County, North Carolina), phone 336-372-4455, 40 Alleghany Street PO Box 53 Sparta, NC 28675, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 4, 2026.
A sentence of more than a year is served in state prison; the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction lists its inmates at dac.nc.gov/dac-services/criminal-offender-searches.
How to Find Out About an Arrest in Alleghany County
Whether someone was arrested in Alleghany County, and what came of it, shows up in two places: the case index of the Alleghany County Superior Court, which shows whether charges were filed and the next court date (the court records page SearchSystems verified is at nccourts.gov/locations/alleghany-county); the District Attorney, which decides whether an arrest becomes a charge (its page is at nccourts.gov/taxonomy/term/557).
Statewide, eCourts Portal is the North Carolina Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
North Carolina does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court's own case index is the public record of an arrest that led to a charge.
Getting a Copy of an Arrest Record in Alleghany County
The report of an arrest is released by the agency that made it; the jail and the court hold their own records of the same event, but not the report. Under the North Carolina Public Records Act the agency must answer as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
- An arrest by the Alleghany County Sheriff's Office: ask its records unit, reached through the office at 336-372-4455.
- An arrest in Sparta: the records unit of the agency that reports for that city.
- An arrest by the State Park Rangers at Stone Mountain: the records office of the agency involved.
- A defendant who has been charged gets the report through the case: the District Attorney handles discovery for pending cases.
- The court file of a case that was filed: the Alleghany County Superior Court, through the court records page at nccourts.gov/locations/alleghany-county.
- Your own statewide record: a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Cities in Alleghany County: Who Reports the Arrests
The FBI lists a separate arrest reporting agency for Sparta, the one city in Alleghany County.
Wherever in the county the arrest happens, a person kept in custody goes to the county jail and the case goes to the Alleghany County Superior Court.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many arrests are made in Alleghany County each year?
The Alleghany County Sheriff's Office reported 181 arrests to the FBI for 2024, and the two agencies with every month of 2024 on file reported 296 between them.
How do I find out if someone is in jail in Alleghany County?
Ask the Alleghany County Sheriff's Office at 336-372-4455; its jail page SearchSystems verified is at alleghanycounty-nc.gov/sheriffs-office.
Where are people arrested in Alleghany County booked?
Those kept in custody go to the county jail, run by the Alleghany County Sheriff's Office; a person cited and released at the scene is not booked.
Are arrest records public in Alleghany County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Alleghany County Superior Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the North Carolina Public Records Act.
How do I get a copy of an arrest report in Alleghany County?
From the agency that made the arrest: the Alleghany County Sheriff's Office for its own arrests, or the agency that reports for the city where it happened. Under the North Carolina Public Records Act the answer is due as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days.
Is this the official Alleghany 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.