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 October 4, 2026.
Nicholas County, West Virginia, has about 24,000 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 Nicholas 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: Nicholas County public records, Nicholas County arrest records, Nicholas County warrants, Nicholas County inmate search, Nicholas County court records, West Virginia arrest records and West Virginia inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Nicholas County Circuit Court
In West Virginia the public criminal record is the court file. Criminal cases from Nicholas County are heard by the Nicholas 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 courtswv.gov/public-resources/court-information-county/nicholas_county (page title: Nicholas County Information | West Virginia Judiciary), phone 304-872-7840, 700 Main Street, Room 216 Summersville, WV 26651, 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
The statewide criminal history kept by the West Virginia State Police is closed to the public in West Virginia: 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 State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Arrest Records Kept Locally in Nicholas County
The Nicholas County Sheriff's Office and the agencies that report for Summersville and Richwood keep the arrest records in Nicholas 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 two state police units, two state agencies and one other agency in Nicholas County (the arrest records guide names each one); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
Together, the three agencies in Nicholas County with all twelve months of 2025 on file reported 1,576 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 Nicholas County arrest records.
The Crimes Behind the Records: Nicholas County in 2024
The two agencies in Nicholas County with all twelve months of 2024 on file reported 128 violent and 59 property crimes to the FBI that year; the same agencies with both 2024 and 2023 complete reported 187 crimes in 2024 against 181 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 Nicholas County public records guide.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Nicholas County
Charges in Nicholas County are filed by the Prosecuting Attorney, which reviews the arrests of every agency in the county and brings the cases in the Nicholas County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court.
The office's page SearchSystems verified is at nicholascountywv.org/prosecuting-attorney (page title: Prosecuting Attorney | Prosecuting Attorney Services by NCC), phone (304) 872-7870, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Nicholas County
Registered sex offenders living in Nicholas 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 Nicholas 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 Nicholas County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Nicholas 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 Nicholas County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courtswv.gov (page title: Nicholas County Information | West Virginia Judiciary).
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 Nicholas County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at (304) 872-7870, which files its cases in the Nicholas County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court.
Is this the official Nicholas 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.