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 on September 23, 2026.
Watauga County, North Carolina, has about 55,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In North Carolina the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Superior Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation 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 Watauga 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 and common questions.
Related guides: Watauga County public records, Watauga County arrest records, Watauga County warrants, Watauga County inmate search, Watauga County court records, North Carolina arrest records and North Carolina inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Watauga County Superior Court
A criminal case from Watauga County is filed in the Watauga County Superior Court or the District Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases, divorces, child custody, small claims and civil cases up to $25,000, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of Superior Court, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Watauga County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at nccourts.gov/locations/watauga-county (page title: Watauga County | North Carolina Judicial Branch), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Statewide, eCourts Portal is the North Carolina Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
The North Carolina Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is closed to the public in North Carolina: 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 Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation. Statewide court records are the public route: the Clerk of Superior Court sells certified criminal record checks. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at nccourts.gov/help-topics/court-records/criminal-background-check.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Watauga County
The Watauga County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Boone, Blowing Rock, Beech Mountain and Seven Devils keep the arrest records in Watauga 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 these agencies in Watauga County: Appalachian State University (campus police); the State Park Rangers at Elk Knob (state agency); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the four agencies in Watauga County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,271 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 Watauga County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Watauga County in 2025
The four agencies in Watauga County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 55 violent and 355 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 410 crimes in 2025 against 378 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 Watauga County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Watauga County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Watauga County become charges and files them in the Watauga County Superior Court or the 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 wataugacounty.org/app_pages/dept/DA/home.aspx (page title: Watauga County, NC), phone 828-268-6610, 842 West King Street, Suite 210 Boone, NC 28607, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Watauga County
Registered sex offenders living in Watauga County are listed on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry, run by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation at sexoffender.ncsbi.gov. The registry is public and can be searched online; the county sheriff registers them.
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 Watauga 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 North Carolina Public Records Act a county office must answer a request as promptly as possible; the statute sets no number of days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Watauga County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Watauga 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.
Can I search Watauga County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at nccourts.gov/locations/watauga-county (page title: Watauga County | North Carolina Judicial Branch). Statewide, eCourts Portal is the North Carolina Judicial Branch's free statewide case search.
How do I get my own North Carolina criminal history?
Through a Right to Review request, fingerprint-based, to the State Bureau of Investigation.
Who prosecutes crimes in Watauga County?
The District Attorney, reached at 828-268-6610, which files its cases in the Watauga County Superior Court or the District Court.
Is this the official Watauga 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.