Search Craig County Criminal History

Craig County Criminal History Checks

No single database holds every Craig County criminal record. Start with the record type and work outward. The Virginia Online Case Information System, or OCIS 2.0, is the broad adult court index. Craig General District Court holds misdemeanor cases and the first stages of many felonies. Craig Circuit Court holds felony trials, indictments, appeals, final orders, and local expungement or sealing matters. The Craig County Sheriff's Office is the direct source for its incident and arrest reports. Virginia State Police supplies the separate statewide repository response.

Before searching, gather the full legal name, alternate spellings, an approximate event date, and any case or report number. A date or court can separate two people who share a name. Public results limit birth data, so a name match alone is not sound proof. Search each charge row and note the court, code section, status, plea, disposition, and date.

1. Search OCIS 2.0 by name or case number, then narrow the results to Craig County and the right court.
2. Repeat the search in General District or Circuit Court by name, case number, or hearing date.
3. Call the correct clerk when an older case, final order, or document is absent from the free index.
4. Ask the sheriff for the incident, arrest, booking, dispatch, or warrant record by its exact type.
5. Use SP-167 when a statewide Virginia repository response is needed, then compare it with the court disposition.

For a deeper reading, compare the filed charges and final outcome at the correct Craig County court. Court data can lag, and sealed or juvenile information will not appear in a public name search.

Craig County's Records Campus

Most Craig County criminal records share a compact home. The courthouse complex at 182 Main Street in New Castle places three key counters under one address. Suite 1 is the Sheriff's Office. Suite 4 is the Circuit Court clerk. Suite 5 is the combined General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations clerk. The sheriff directs visitors to the courthouse's left-side entrance behind the gazebo, with parking reached from Market Street across from Food Country.

The offices do different work despite their shared address. Sheriff Trevor Craddock's office can be reached at 540-864-5127 for local law-enforcement records. Circuit Clerk Sharon P. Oliver's office answers at 540-864-6141 and is open from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Combined District Clerk Patricia H. Taylor's counter keeps the same hours and answers at 540-864-5989. Call first about copy charges, certification, security, access needs, or a records-only visit because the county does not publish all of those details.

The county's elected-official directory identifies the current record officers.

That official roster helps a requester address a Craig County record to the office that actually holds it.

Official Background Checks in Virginia

The Virginia Department of State Police Criminal Justice Information Services Division operates CARE and the Central Criminal Records Exchange, Virginia's sole criminal-history repository. A general-public SP-167 request from Craig County is not an instant public results search. The form is generated for one person, signed before a notary, paid under the current form instructions, and mailed to VSP CARE. When Craig County results go to someone other than the person searched, Section 2 requires the recipient's notarized signature as well.

For a Craig County request, VSP reports a mail processing time of about 15 to 20 business days and offers no same-day or expedited service. Remote Online Notary adds $25 when that option is selected. VSP materials refer to $15 or $20 checks, but the current generated form controls the exact product cost. A Craig County resident seeking an FBI Identity History Summary must use the FBI's subject-only fingerprint process. Craig County has no published retail VSP fingerprint site, so call the sheriff first to ask about local civil fingerprint availability, identification, cards, appointments, and fees.

The VSP forms index shows the active criminal-history forms.

This official form list is the safer starting point when 2026 law or product instructions have changed.

Three Craig County Record Custodians

A Craig County sheriff report, court file, and CCRE rap sheet may describe the same event in different terms. That is normal. The Craig County sheriff report is accusation and agency action. It may state the first charge, probable-cause facts, place, time, officer, and property or evidence details. A Craig County booking record is custody focused. It may add intake time, fingerprints, a photograph, bond, holds, release, or transfer data.

The Craig County court file follows what prosecutors filed and what a judge decided. It can show a new charge label, plea, motions, hearings, dismissal, nolle prosequi, conviction, sentence, costs, and final orders. CCRE is identity and arrest-cycle focused. Reportable fingerprint-supported arrests and later dispositions flow there from Craig County agencies and courts, but timing or a missed update can create a gap.

When an official CCRE entry appears wrong, VSP directs the subject to the arresting agency. Virginia Code section 9.1-132 also protects a subject's right to review and seek correction. Never infer identity or guilt from one name hit.

Kinds of Criminal Records

Craig County criminal history is a set of linked records, not one file. Craig County law enforcement creates an incident or arrest report. An intake custodian creates the booking record. A magistrate issues process and makes the initial bail decision. Craig County clerks preserve the prosecution and court result. VSP compiles qualifying reported events at CCRE. Each custodian answers a different question.

• Arrest and booking records: agency action, initial charges, intake, bond, holds, and release or transfer data.
• Craig County court case records: case numbers, filed charges, pleas, hearings, outcomes, sentences, costs, and orders.
• Warrant records: court or magistrate process that requires direct confirmation because no local public warrant portal exists.
• Custody and supervision records: Craig County custody through the sheriff and VINE, or state custody and supervision through VADOC.
• Registry records: safety information published by the Virginia Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry.

Juvenile, sealed, expunged, victim-sensitive, and active-investigation material may be withheld or redacted. An arrest record is not proof of guilt, and a warrant-related court event is not reliable proof that process remains active.

Nolle prosequi

The prosecutor elects not to proceed at that time; it is not an acquittal.

Disposition

The court's recorded outcome for a charge or case.

Capias

Court process often issued after a failure to appear or other noncompliance.

Sealing

A statutory restriction that removes qualifying records from ordinary public inspection.

Craig County Custody Record Gaps

Craig County publishes no official inmate roster, booking log, daily arrest list, mugshot gallery, or named local jail page. The reliable path begins with the Craig County Sheriff's Office at 540-864-5127. Ask where the person is physically housed because the arresting office and holding facility may differ. Then use Virginia VINE for local or regional custody and change notices. Use the VADOC locator only after state commitment or for a supervisee.

The same caution applies to warrants. Craig County has no public active-warrant database. Call the sheriff, call the clerk for the court that could have issued the process, search OCIS for related case activity, and request releasable warrant information. A court-index miss cannot clear a warrant. Anyone resolving their own possible warrant should identify the exact case and issuing court, ask about counsel and appearance instructions, and follow the court's direction.

For a full account of agency, VINE, court, and repository channels, consult the Craig County arrest search.

VADOC accepts a full last name with at least the first three letters of the first name, or a DOC ID. Its daily update is useful for state status, but VADOC warns that locator information may be incomplete or out of date.

Craig County Criminal Records: What They Contain

The fields depend on the source. A public Craig County case result commonly includes the court and locality, case number, defendant display name, charge, Virginia Code section, offense or arrest date when recorded, hearings, status, plea, disposition, and sentence. The full clerk file may contain pleadings and orders that the free web index does not provide. A CCRE response organizes fingerprint-linked arrest cycles, identifiers, agencies, charges, and reported outcomes. Booking data center on intake and custody.

Sensitive identifiers, victim information, and confidential juvenile facts should not appear in a public display. Read each count on its own. One case can contain a conviction on one charge and dismissal on another.

Craig County Record Requests

Craig County does not require a special form for a Virginia FOIA request. Requests may be sent by mail, fax, email, phone, or made in person, and they need not cite the law. Send sheriff records to the elected Sheriff's Office first. For a general county record or uncertain custody, Amy Bryson is the county FOIA contact at 108 Court Street, P.O. Box 308, New Castle, VA 24127, phone 540-864-5010, and fax 540-864-5590.

Describe an existing record with enough detail to find it. Give the event date, place, agency, known report number, desired format, and exact record type. An incident narrative, dispatch entry, 911 audio, body-camera file, photograph, booking record, and warrant confirmation are separate items. Ask for segregable nonexempt portions and a written statute citation for any withheld part.

The official Craig County FOIA policy states the request channels and response rules.

Virginia FOIA generally allows five working days after receipt for a response, redaction, withholding, no-record answer, or lawful extension.

Actual search, access, duplication, and supply costs may apply. Craig can require a deposit when the estimate exceeds $200, but no sheriff report, video, certified-copy, or local fingerprint fee schedule was found. Ask for an estimate before work begins.

Craig County Supervision Records

Adult felony probation and parole for Craig County are state run through VADOC, not a county probation office. Fincastle District 40 at 20 South Roanoke Street serves both Craig County and New Castle. Its phone is 540-473-2056. A court sentence is the best public proof that probation was imposed. The VADOC inmate and supervisee locator may add a public status or office, but detailed conditions, officer notes, and supervision files are not a general public name database.

Probation follows a court sentence and its conditions. Parole is conditional release for eligible cases under Virginia Parole Board decisions, with VADOC Community Corrections providing supervision. A claimed violation can lead to a report, capias, hearing, modification, sanction, or revocation. The court docket and signed order establish what happened. Locator wording or hearsay does not.

For a Craig County record check, read the sentencing order first, review the public VADOC result second, and call District 40 only for facts it may lawfully confirm. Virginia VINE reports custody and release changes, not the terms or outcome of probation and parole proceedings.

Virginia Public Access Laws

Craig County public access depends on the custodian and the record. Virginia FOIA covers public-body records and gives special rules to law-enforcement material. Clerk-held court records follow judicial inspection law. CCRE dissemination has its own statute, so a statewide repository response is not just a Craig County FOIA request. Sealed, expunged, juvenile, victim-sensitive, and active investigative records may fall outside ordinary access.

A request does not guarantee release of every page. Narrow wording can help an office separate public facts from exempt material. Court clerks may also charge fees under their own rules.

Federal Records Beyond Craig County

Federal criminal records sit outside the Craig County sheriff, courts, and CCRE chain. Craig County lies in the Roanoke Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. PACER is the official federal docket service after registration and charges under its current fee schedule. The Bureau of Prisons locator covers federal custody. Neither source shows local jail custody or a Virginia state prison record.

The Western District of Virginia site identifies the federal court.

This court layer matters only when the charge was filed under federal law, not merely because a local arrest involved a serious offense.

The PACER service provides federal docket access.

A PACER docket should still be read charge by charge and matched to the right court and person.

The BOP Inmate Locator is the official federal custody search.

A BOP result answers federal custody status, not the final meaning of the federal court docket.

Restricted, Sealed & Expunged Records

Virginia uses both expungement and sealing, and the law is changing during 2026. Under the version of section 19.2-392.2 effective before December 1, 2026, qualifying acquittals, nolle prosequi outcomes, dismissals, mistaken identity cases, and specified relief may support an expungement petition. A Craig County petition goes to Circuit Court in Suite 4. The traditional form is CC-1473. The filing should identify the arrest, agency, charge, final outcome, date of birth, and name used at arrest.

Chapter 23.2 also creates automatic and petition-based sealing for listed records when all conditions apply. Sealing removes a qualifying record from ordinary public view but does not destroy it. Authorized access remains for purposes set by law. The new sealing forms must be matched to the right court and remedy, not swapped for an expungement form based on guesswork.

A dismissal does not make an arrest record vanish at once. After an order, allow processing time and review the clerk and one's own CCRE response. Challenge stale official data through its custodian. No public juvenile case search exists, and sensitive personal fields stay restricted under separate rules.

Craig County's Old Jail Record

Craig County was formed in 1851, and the county says its restored jail house dates to about 1855. The structure at Route 615 and Court Street now serves as county administration. It is not the current sheriff records counter or a public inmate facility. Old Craig jail references can send custody searches to the wrong building.

The county government page documents the restored jail house.

Present-day sheriff and court records are across the civic campus at 182 Main Street, while general county FOIA coordination is at 108 Court Street.

The county's small scale helps explain this centralized setup. Census QuickFacts estimated 4,829 residents in 2024, spread across a mountainous county. New Castle is the county seat and only incorporated town. Court calendars also run in set blocks rather than every day, so record updates should be checked against the hearing schedule.

City-by-City Criminal Records in Craig County

New Castle is the only incorporated town in Craig County. It has Town Hall and a town council, but official directories show no town police department and no municipal court. Criminal records for events in New Castle therefore run through the Craig County Sheriff's Office and the Craig General District or Circuit Court. The town had 125 residents in the 2020 Census, and no unincorporated place should be substituted merely to create more city pages.

Town Hall at 339 Market Street handles municipal business, not criminal-record custody. A New Castle arrest begins with the sheriff or other arresting agency, and a misdemeanor or felony preliminary matter reaches Suite 5 before any felony proceeds to Circuit Court in Suite 4.