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 1, 2026.
Preble County, Ohio, has about 41,000 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 Preble 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: Preble County public records, Preble County arrest records, Preble County warrants, Preble County inmate search, Preble County court records, Ohio arrest records and Ohio inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Preble County Court of Common Pleas
In Ohio the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Preble County are heard by the Preble County Court of Common Pleas, which hears felonies, civil cases over $15,000, divorces, probate and juvenile matters, each in its own division; the Municipal and County Courts take misdemeanors, traffic cases, evictions and civil cases up to $15,000; mayor's courts handle some village tickets, and the file of each case is kept by the Clerk of Courts.
For Preble County, SearchSystems opened and checked the court records page for the county at preblecountyohio.net (page title: Preble County Clerk of Courts), phone 937-456-8160, 101 East Main Street Third Floor Courthouse Eaton OH 45320, 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
Ohio does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Preble County Court of Common Pleas is the public record.
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 Preble County
The Preble County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Eaton, Camden, Lewisburg, New Paris, West Alexandria and Gratis keep the arrest records in Preble 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 Preble County with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 477 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 Preble County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Preble County in 2023
The two agencies in Preble County with all twelve months of 2023 on file reported 22 violent and 217 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2023 and 2022 complete reported 239 crimes in 2023 against 247 in 2022. 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 Preble County public records guide.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Preble County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in Preble County become charges and files them in the Preble 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 ohioattorneygeneral.gov/getattachment/847446fd-a677-4998-b1a3-3277f... (page title: February 7, 2022 The Honorable Martin P. Votel Preble), phone (614) 752-6417, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 23, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Preble County
Registered sex offenders living in Preble 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 Preble 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 preblecountysheriff.org/187/Records-Requests (page title: Records Requests | Preble County, OH).
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Preble County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Preble 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 Preble County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at preblecountyohio.net (page title: Preble County Clerk of Courts).
How do I get my own Ohio criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based WebCheck at any WebCheck location.
Who prosecutes crimes in Preble County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at (614) 752-6417, which files its cases in the Preble County Court of Common Pleas or the Municipal and County Courts.
Is this the official Preble 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.