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 24, 2026 and September 30, 2026.
Barbour County, West Virginia, has about 15,000 residents (2024 Census Bureau estimate). In West Virginia the public criminal record is the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk; the statewide criminal history kept by the West Virginia State Police 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 Barbour 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: Barbour County public records, Barbour County arrest records, Barbour County warrants, Barbour County inmate search, Barbour County court records, West Virginia arrest records and West Virginia inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Barbour County Circuit Court
In West Virginia the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Barbour County are heard by the Barbour County Circuit Court, which hears felonies, the larger civil cases and juvenile matters; the Magistrate Court takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $10,000, and the file of each case is kept by the Circuit Clerk.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at barbourcountywv.gov/circuit-clerk (page title: Circuit Clerk -Barbour County, WV | Court Records & Administration), phone (304) 457-3454, 26 North Main Street Philippi, WV 26416, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
West Virginia has no single public index of every trial court case; each court's records are looked up through that court.
The West Virginia Criminal History and Your Own Copy
West Virginia does not let the public search another person's statewide criminal history. The record kept by the West Virginia State Police goes to the person it belongs to and to employers and agencies the law authorizes; for everyone else the court file in the Barbour County Circuit Court is the public record.
To see your own record, the route is a fingerprint-based request to the State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Barbour County
The Barbour County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Philippi and Belington keep the arrest records in Barbour 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 Barbour County: the State Fire Marshal in Barbour County and the Department of Natural Resources in Barbour County (state agency); the Philippi State Police (state police); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the two agencies in Barbour County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 145 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 Barbour County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Barbour County in 2024
The two agencies in Barbour County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 14 violent and 38 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 52 crimes in 2024 against 90 in 2023. 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 Barbour County public records guide.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Barbour County
Charges in Barbour County are filed by the Prosecuting Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Barbour County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at barbourcountywv.gov/prosecuting-attorney (page title: Prosecuting Attorney -Barbour County, WV | Prosecutor), phone (304) 457-1811, 26 North Main Street Philippi, WV 26416, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 24, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Barbour County
Registered sex offenders living in Barbour County are listed on the West Virginia Sex Offender Registry, run by the West Virginia State Police at apps.wv.gov. The registry is public and can be searched online.
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 Barbour 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 West Virginia Freedom of Information Act a county office must answer a request within 5 business days, and it may charge the actual cost of copying.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are criminal records public in Barbour County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Barbour County Circuit Court are public and can be looked up through the court. The statewide criminal history kept by the West Virginia State Police is not public; you can get your own. The arrest report itself is released by the agency that made the arrest, under the West Virginia Freedom of Information Act.
Can I search Barbour County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at barbourcountywv.gov/circuit-clerk (page title: Circuit Clerk -Barbour County, WV | Court Records & Administration).
How do I get my own West Virginia criminal history?
Through a fingerprint-based request to the State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Who prosecutes crimes in Barbour County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at (304) 457-1811, which files its cases in the Barbour County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court.
Is this the official Barbour 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.