Pull up MyCase and type in the name — that’s the fastest path to Orange County court-side arrest records, covering cases filed in the Circuit Court and Superior Court at 205 E Main St, Paoli, IN 47454. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office handles booking records separately; reach them at (812) 723-2417. The Indiana Judicial Branch: Orange County page links both the MyCase search and the Orange County Clerk’s court records portal in one place. Confirm current records-request fees and required documents with the Clerk before visiting, as staff may not accept incomplete submissions.
If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Orange County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.
Searching for records beyond Indiana
Orange County’s MyCase portal covers state court filings, but it won’t surface federal cases prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, records from other states where someone may have lived, or arrests that predate the portal’s online window. A nationwide database search may help fill gaps that local portals often leave — particularly when you need to verify a name across multiple jurisdictions or check records under prior names. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account.
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How to look up arrest records in Orange County
Which records are you after — a court docket filed last month, or a booking entry from a decade ago? The answer determines which system you use, because recent digital records and older paper records live in different places in Orange County.
Court-side records from the Orange County Circuit Court and Superior Court — both located at 205 E Main St, Paoli, IN 47454 — are searchable through MyCase, Indiana’s statewide public case portal. MyCase covers cases filed after the court’s digital cutoff; older case files exist only on paper at the Clerk’s office. To search MyCase, create a free account and request an access code. The Indiana Judicial Branch: Orange County page links directly to the MyCase search and lists Clerk contact details. Confirm current hours before driving — the courthouse generally opens weekdays at 8:00 AM, though hours can vary. Bring all required documents; the Orange County Clerk’s staff may not accept incomplete submissions.
Booking records — the Sheriff-side record of who was physically taken into custody — are held by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at the same Paoli address. Call (812) 723-2417 to ask about records-request procedures and any applicable fee. Mail-in requests by money order are an option; make money orders out to Orange County Clerk of Courts and confirm the current mailing address and fee by phone before sending. The Sheriff’s Office also accepts payment by cash, debit/credit card, personal check, and cashier’s check for in-person requests.
For jail booking data specifically, the Indiana Judicial Branch’s offender locator for county jails may show current or recent Orange County Jail bookings. This tool is separate from MyCase and pulls from the jail roster rather than the court docket. If a person has been transferred to state custody, the Indiana Department of Correction offender search covers IDOC-managed facilities.
Federal arrest records — cases investigated by the FBI, DEA, or other federal agencies and prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana — do not appear in MyCase or the Sheriff’s booking system at all. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana maintains its own case search; PACER (the federal court’s electronic records system) is the authoritative source for federal criminal dockets. Orange County falls within the Southern District’s jurisdiction.
The Indiana State Police: Orange County page provides crime statistics and incident data for the county under the NIBRS initiative, which can be useful context but is not a case-level arrest lookup tool.
Are Orange County arrest records public?
Know the default rule before you request: court filings and booking records in Orange County are public records under Indiana law, with a narrow set of statutory exceptions.
Indiana’s open-records framework is governed by Ind. Code § 5-14-3, the Access to Public Records Act (APRA). Under APRA, booking records — including booking photos — are generally open to the public. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Clerk of Court are both subject to APRA disclosure requirements. You do not need to state a reason to request a public arrest record.
The exceptions are specific. Juvenile records are not public; arrests of persons under 18 are handled through a separate court system and are shielded from routine disclosure. Victim-identifying information in certain cases — particularly sexual offenses — may be redacted before release. Records that have been expunged under Indiana’s Second Chance Law are removed from public view; after a successful expungement, the Orange County Clerk is required to seal the record, and it will not appear in MyCase or in response to a public records request.
Federal arrest records are a separate category entirely. An arrest made by a federal agency and prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana is not in Indiana’s state system. APRA does not govern federal records. To access federal case records, you need PACER or a direct request to the federal court clerk — the state Clerk of Court in Paoli has no authority over those files and cannot produce them.
Active investigations may also carry limited disclosure. If charges have not yet been filed, the underlying investigative file may be withheld under APRA’s law-enforcement exemption, even though the booking record itself remains public. In practice, this means you may find a booking entry in the Sheriff’s system before a corresponding court case appears in MyCase.
What’s in an Orange County arrest record?
One arrest, two systems — and the fields you see depend entirely on which system you’re looking at.
A booking at the Orange County Jail generates a Sheriff-side record. That record typically includes the arrested person’s full name, date of birth, booking date and time, the arresting agency (Sheriff’s Office, Indiana State Police, or a municipal department like the Orleans Police Department), the charge or charges as listed at booking, and a booking number. Booking photos are part of this record and are generally public under Ind. Code § 5-14-3. The booking record does not contain court dispositions — it reflects what was alleged at the moment of arrest, not what happened afterward in court.
When the prosecutor files charges, a separate court record is created at the Orange County Courthouse, 205 E Main St, Paoli. That docket entry — visible in MyCase — carries the case number, the formal charge language (which may differ from the booking charge), the attorney of record for both sides, scheduled hearing dates, and, once the case resolves, the disposition. A dismissal, acquittal, or conviction all appear as docket entries. The case number format in Orange County follows Indiana’s standard structure: a two-digit year prefix, county code, and case type identifier.
The two records can diverge in meaningful ways. A booking charge of “Theft” might become a reduced charge of “Conversion” in the court filing. A case might be booked and then never prosecuted — the booking record persists even if no court case was ever opened. Conversely, a court case can exist without a local booking record if the defendant was arrested in another county and transferred.
For the mugshot release policy specific to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, call (812) 723-2417 — the policy isn’t published in the curated online documentation for this county.
Traffic citations handled by the Indiana State Police in Orange County generate a third record type — a citation rather than a booking — tracked through the ISP’s own systems. The Indiana State Police traffic ticket resources page explains how to look up and resolve those separately from court or jail records.
How to expunge an arrest record in Orange County
Indiana’s expungement law took its current shape in 2013, and the waiting periods it established are the controlling timelines for anyone petitioning in Orange County today.
The governing statute is Ind. Code § 35-38-9 (Indiana “Second Chance Law”). It covers both non-conviction records and conviction records, with different eligibility rules for each. Petitioning to seal an arrest record in Orange County is a routine legal procedure — the statute was designed to give people a path forward after contact with the criminal justice system.
Non-conviction records (arrests that resulted in no charges, a dismissal, or an acquittal) are the most accessible category. A person arrested but never convicted can petition to expunge the arrest record one year after the arrest date. Dismissals and acquittals are expunged automatically by court order, though the order takes effect no sooner than 60 days after it is entered. In practical terms, if your Orange County case was dismissed, you may not need to file anything — confirm with the Clerk of Court whether the automatic order has already been entered.
Misdemeanor convictions can be expunged five years after the conviction date, provided the person has no new convictions and meets the other eligibility criteria. The court must grant a qualifying petition — there is no judicial discretion to deny it if the requirements are met.
Class D or Level 6 felony convictions require an eight-year wait from the conviction date. Like misdemeanors, the court must grant a qualifying petition.
More serious felonies can be petitioned after the later of eight years from conviction or three years from completing the sentence. The court has discretion to grant or deny these petitions.
The most serious felonies — including sex offenses, violent offenses, and official-misconduct offenses — require the later of ten years from conviction or five years from completing the sentence, and also require the prosecutor’s written consent. Some offense categories are excluded from expungement entirely under the Second Chance Law.
Indiana allows effectively one expungement petition per lifetime. All petitions in Orange County must be filed together in a single filing — you cannot file for one conviction now and return later for another. Getting the timing right before filing matters significantly. File the verified petition at the Orange County Circuit Court or Superior Court, 205 E Main St, Paoli, IN 47454 — the court where the conviction occurred, or the court of arrest for non-conviction records.
Federal arrest records are not affected by a state expungement order. A successful Orange County expungement removes the record from Indiana’s public systems, but any corresponding federal case record in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana requires a separate federal petition under federal law — the state order has no effect on federal dockets.
Filing fees apply; ask the Clerk about the current fee and whether an indigency waiver is available. Self-represented petitioners can file without an attorney, but given the one-petition lifetime limit, many people consult a licensed Indiana attorney before filing. Search for an attorney at Indiana’s Roll of Attorneys or contact the Indiana Public Defender Council for guidance on public defender resources.
Confirm the current statute text or ask the Orange County Clerk of Court before filing — the Second Chance Law has been amended since its 2013 enactment, and the current version controls.
Quick-contacts: Orange County arrest records
| Resource | What it confirms | What it cannot confirm | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyCase | Court-filed charges, case numbers, hearing dates, dispositions, attorney of record for Orange County Circuit and Superior Court cases | Booking records, cases not yet filed, federal cases, pre-digital paper records | Create a free account; request an access code to search by name |
|
Orange County Sheriff’s Office (812) 723-2417 |
Booking records, booking photos, jail roster, records-request fee and procedure | Court dispositions, federal arrests, cases handled by other agencies | Call to request records or ask about mail-in options; money orders payable to Orange County Clerk of Courts |
| Indiana Judicial Branch: Orange County | Links to MyCase search, Clerk contact details, court locations at 205 E Main St, Paoli, IN 47454 | Booking records, federal cases, expunged records | Use as a directory to reach the Clerk or MyCase directly |
| Indiana jail offender locator | Current and recent Orange County Jail bookings by name | Historical records, court dispositions, IDOC state-prison inmates | Search by name; if no result, call the Sheriff’s Office |
| Indiana Department of Correction offender search | Inmates currently or previously held in IDOC state facilities | County jail bookings, court records, federal inmates | Search by name or DOC number for state-prison records |
| U.S. District Court — Southern District of Indiana | Federal criminal cases involving Orange County defendants | State court records, county jail bookings, state expungements | Use PACER for full docket access; register at pacer.gov |
Sources used for this page, verified 2026-07-21:
- Indiana Judicial Branch: Orange County — court locations, Clerk contact, MyCase access for Orange County Circuit and Superior Courts
- MyCase — statewide public case search portal covering Orange County court filings
- Indiana Judicial Branch: Public Records — statewide public-records policy and access guidance
- Indiana jail offender locator — current and recent booking data for Orange County Jail
- Indiana State Police: Orange County — ISP crime statistics and incident data for Orange County
- Orange County Sheriff — Orange County Government, Indiana — Sheriff’s Office contact and records-request information
- Circuit Court — Orange County Government, Indiana — Orange County Circuit Court contact and procedures
- Superior Court — Orange County Government, Indiana — Orange County Superior Court contact and procedures
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana — Case Search Information — federal criminal case lookup for Orange County defendants
- Indiana Department of Correction offender search — state-prison inmate lookup
- Indiana Code — full text of Ind. Code § 5-14-3 (APRA) and Ind. Code § 35-38-9 (Second Chance Law)
Found an error or outdated detail? Submit a correction — we review and update within 48 hours.
Frequently asked questions: Orange County arrest records
What is the timeline for getting an Orange County arrest record expunged under Indiana law?
The waiting period depends on the outcome of the case. An arrest with no conviction — dismissed or acquitted — can be petitioned for expungement one year after the arrest date; dismissals and acquittals also trigger an automatic expungement order, effective no sooner than 60 days after entry. A misdemeanor conviction requires a five-year wait from the conviction date. A Class D or Level 6 felony conviction requires eight years. More serious felonies require the later of eight years from conviction or three years from completing the sentence. The most serious felonies require ten years from conviction or five years from completing the sentence, plus the prosecutor’s written consent. All petitions for Orange County cases are filed at the Orange County Circuit or Superior Court, 205 E Main St, Paoli, IN 47454, under Ind. Code § 35-38-9. Indiana allows one lifetime petition, so confirm current eligibility with the Clerk or a licensed attorney before filing.
When does an Orange County arrest record appear in a court hearing, and what happens at that hearing?
After a booking at the Orange County Jail, the prosecutor decides whether to file formal charges — typically within a few days for most offenses, though the exact timeline varies by case. Once charges are filed, the case appears in MyCase with a case number and a scheduled initial hearing date. At the initial hearing (often called an initial appearance or arraignment), the defendant is formally advised of the charges, and bond conditions are addressed. Subsequent hearings — pretrial conferences, motion hearings, and the trial or plea — are added to the docket as the case progresses. The Orange County Circuit Court and Superior Court both hold hearings at 205 E Main St, Paoli. Call the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at (812) 723-2417 for booking-side questions; check MyCase for court-side scheduling.
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