Reviewed and updated October 9, 2026 by the SearchSystems.net editorial team. The arrest 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.
Pendleton County, West Virginia, has about 5,900 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 Pendleton County is kept and how it is seen.
This guide covers the court file, the statewide record, local arrest records, the prosecutor, sex offender registry, records requests and common questions.
Related guides: Pendleton County public records, Pendleton County arrest records, Pendleton County warrants, Pendleton County inmate search, Pendleton County court records, West Virginia arrest records and West Virginia inmate search.
Criminal Cases in the Pendleton County Circuit Court
A criminal case from Pendleton County is filed in the Pendleton County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court, which takes misdemeanors, traffic cases and civil cases up to $10,000, and the court file, kept by the Circuit Clerk, is the record of it that the public may see.
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courtswv.gov/public-resources/court-information-county/pendleton_co... (page title: Pendleton County Information | West Virginia Judiciary), phone 304-822-7442, 50 South High Street, Suite 6 Romney, WV 26757, 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 Pendleton County
The Pendleton County Sheriff's Office keeps the arrest records in Pendleton 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 Pendleton County: the Franklin State Police (state police); the State Fire Marshal in Pendleton County and the Department of Natural Resources in Pendleton County (state agency); each keeps the records of its own arrests.
The agencies and their counts, year by year, are in Pendleton County arrest records.
The Prosecuting Attorney for Pendleton County
The Prosecuting Attorney decides which arrests in Pendleton County become charges and files them in the Pendleton County Circuit Court 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 pencowv.com/departments/prosecuting-attorney (page title: Prosecuting Attorney | Pendleton County West Virginia), phone 304-902-7104, 74 Walnut Street PO Box 865 Franklin WV 26807, which answered when SearchSystems opened it on September 30, 2026.
The Sex Offender Registry for Pendleton County
Registered sex offenders living in Pendleton 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 Pendleton 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 Pendleton County?
The court files of criminal cases in the Pendleton 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 Pendleton County criminal cases online?
The court records page SearchSystems verified for the county is at courtswv.gov (page title: Pendleton 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 Pendleton County?
The Prosecuting Attorney, reached at 304-902-7104, which files its cases in the Pendleton County Circuit Court or the Magistrate Court.
Is this the official Pendleton 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.