Reviewed and updated October 11, 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 24, 2026 and October 11, 2026.
Sandoval County, New Mexico, has about 158,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In New Mexico the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of the District Court; the statewide criminal history kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety 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 Sandoval 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: Sandoval County public records, Sandoval County arrest records, Sandoval County warrants, Sandoval County inmate search, Sandoval County court records, New Mexico arrest records and New Mexico inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the District Court for Sandoval County
In New Mexico the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Sandoval County are heard by the District Court for Sandoval County, which hears felonies, civil cases, divorces, probate and juvenile matters; the Magistrate Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $10,000; Bernalillo County has the Metropolitan Court instead, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of the District Court.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at sandovalcountynm.gov/countyclerk/clerk-records (page title: Clerk Records | Sandoval County), 1500 Idalia Road Bernalillo, NM 87004, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 11, 2026.
Statewide, New Mexico Courts Case Lookup is the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search.
The New Mexico Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety is closed to the public in New Mexico: 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 Department of Public Safety. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at dps.nm.gov/law-enforcement-records-bureau.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Sandoval County
The Sandoval County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Rio Rancho, Bernalillo, Corrales, Cuba and San Ysidro keep the arrest records in Sandoval 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 three agencies in Sandoval County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 2,056 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 Sandoval County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Sandoval County in 2025
The five agencies in Sandoval County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 482 violent and 1,412 property crimes to the FBI that year; the three of them with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 1,709 crimes in 2025 against 2,334 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 Sandoval County public records guide.
The District Attorney for Sandoval County
The District Attorney decides which arrests in Sandoval County become charges and files them in the District Court for Sandoval County or the Magistrate Court; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at 13th.nmdas.com/sandoval (page title: 13th Judicial District Attorney, NM), phone 505-771-7400, 4359 Jager Dr. NE Suite D, Rio Rancho, NM 87144, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on October 11, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Sandoval County
Registered sex offenders living in Sandoval County are listed on the New Mexico Sex Offender Registry, run by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety at offenderwatch.com/network/new-mexico. 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 Sandoval 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 Inspection of Public Records Act a county office must answer a request within 15 calendar days, after acknowledging the request within 3 business days, and it may charge copying at no more than $1 a page. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at sandovalcountynm.gov/public-records-request (page title: Records Request | Sandoval County).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Sandoval County?
The court files of criminal cases in the District Court for Sandoval County are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Inspection of Public Records Act.
Can I search Sandoval County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at sandovalcountynm.gov (page title: Clerk Records | Sandoval County). Statewide, New Mexico Courts Case Lookup is the New Mexico Judiciary's free statewide case search.
How do I get my own New Mexico criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the Department of Public Safety.
Who prosecutes crimes in Sandoval County?
The District Attorney, reached at 505-771-7400, which files its cases in the District Court for Sandoval County or the Magistrate Court.
Is this the official Sandoval 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.