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 September 30, 2026.
Madison County, Ohio, has about 46,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In Ohio the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Clerk of Courts; the statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal 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 Madison 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: Madison County public records, Madison County arrest records, Madison County warrants, Madison County inmate search, Madison County court records, Ohio arrest records and Ohio inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Madison County Court of Common Pleas
A criminal case from Madison County is filed in the Madison County Court of Common Pleas or the Municipal and County Courts, which take misdemeanors, traffic cases, evictions and civil cases up to $15,000; mayor's courts handle some village tickets, and the court file, kept by the Clerk of Courts, is the record of it that the public may see.
For Madison County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at co.madison.oh.us/departments/court_system/clerk_of_courts/records_s... (page title: Clerk of Courts Record Search), which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
Ohio has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The Ohio Criminal History and Your Own Copy
The statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is closed to the public in Ohio: 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 WebCheck at any WebCheck location. The state page SearchSystems verified for it is at ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Individuals-and-Families/Consumers/Requesti....
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Madison County
The Madison County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for London, West Jefferson and Plain City keep the arrest records in Madison 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 Madison County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 275 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 Madison County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Madison County in 2025
The four agencies in Madison County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 24 violent and 228 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2025 and 2024 complete reported 252 crimes in 2025 against 345 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 Madison County public records guide.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Madison County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in Madison County become charges and files them in the Madison County Court of Common Pleas or the Municipal and County Courts; the office answers questions about pending prosecutions, and the case files themselves are court records.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at co.madison.oh.us/departments/court_system/prosecutor/index.php (page title: Madison County Prosecutor), phone (740) 845-1694, Monday - Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Madison County
Registered sex offenders living in Madison County are listed on eSORN, run by the Ohio Attorney General at icrimewatch.net/index.php?AgencyID=55149. 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 Madison 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 Ohio Public Records Act a county office must answer a request promptly, within a reasonable period of time, and it may charge the actual cost of copying. The county records request page SearchSystems verified is at madison.oh.gov/departments/county_officials/county_commissioners/pu... (page title: Public Records Request Information).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Madison County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Madison County Court of Common Pleas are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the Ohio Public Records Act.
Can I search Madison County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at co.madison.oh.us (page title: Clerk of Courts Record Search).
How do I get my own Ohio criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.
Who prosecutes crimes in Madison County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at (740) 845-1694, which files its cases in the Madison County Court of Common Pleas or the Municipal and County Courts.
Is this the official Madison 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.