When you have a name and need the record, Perry County gives you two official entry points: the Perry County Circuit Court Clerk, whose office at the Perry County Courthouse in Tell City maintains criminal case files, and the statewide MyCase portal, which publishes case-level data for Perry County courts at no charge. The Perry County Sheriff’s Office, located at 2211 Herrman Street, Tell City, IN 47586, holds booking-side records. Confirm current Clerk hours and records-request fees before visiting — the Circuit Court Clerk’s office page at Circuit Court Clerk is the authoritative contact source.
If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Perry County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.
Searching for records beyond Indiana
Perry County’s official portals cover cases filed in Indiana courts, but they won’t surface records from other states, federal proceedings, or filings under a prior name in a different jurisdiction. A nationwide database search may help fill gaps that local portals often leave — particularly if the person you’re researching has lived in multiple states or if you want to verify that your own record looks the same everywhere it may appear.
Sponsored: Nationwide Criminal Background Check (we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you).
This tool is not a consumer reporting agency under the FCRA and may not be used to screen anyone for employment, housing, credit, or any other purpose covered by that law.
How to look up arrest records in Perry County
Most weekday mornings are the practical window for records work at the Perry County Courthouse — the Circuit Court Clerk’s office handles in-person requests during weekday business hours, and MyCase is available around the clock online. Confirm hours before driving to Tell City, as courthouse internet connectivity issues have occasionally affected portal access at the Perry County Circuit Judge’s courtroom.
MyCase — court-side records online. The Indiana statewide portal at MyCase is your fastest path to Perry County case data. Search by name or case number. Results include charges filed, hearing dates, and dispositions for cases in the Perry County Circuit Court and Superior Court. MyCase is free to search and requires no account. Note that MyCase reflects court filings — it is the docket, not the Sheriff’s booking log.
Perry County Circuit Court Clerk — in-person and written requests. The Perry County Circuit Court Clerk maintains the official court file for every criminal case filed in the county. For certified copies or records not fully visible on MyCase, contact the Clerk directly. The Clerk’s office is at the Perry County Courthouse, 2219 Payne Street, Tell City, IN 47586 — call the Clerk to confirm the current records-request fee and mailing address for written requests before submitting.
Perry County Sheriff’s Office — booking records. The Perry County Sheriff’s Office at 2211 Herrman Street, Tell City, IN 47586 holds the booking-side record: the arrest report, booking date, and detention information. The Sheriff also maintains a separate records portal at Perrycountysheriffar. The Sheriff’s Office main line is 812-547-2441. Confirm hours and request procedures before visiting.
Indiana Department of Correction — state prison records. If the person you’re researching was sentenced to a state facility rather than held locally, the Indiana Department of Correction offender search covers IDOC-managed facilities. Perry County is home to Branchville Correctional Facility; IDOC’s online tool is the authoritative source for current custody status there.
Indiana Judicial Branch local directory. The Indiana Judicial Branch: Perry County page lists the county’s court structure and links directly to MyCase for case searches. Use it to confirm which court a case was filed in before pulling records.
Are Perry County arrest records public?
Indiana arrest records are presumptively public — but records from other states may follow entirely different access rules, so don’t assume what’s open here is open everywhere. Indiana’s open-records framework is Ind. Code § 5-14-3, the Access to Public Records Act (APRA), which makes booking records — including booking photos — available to any member of the public by default.
Court filings in Perry County are public records under the same framework. The MyCase portal publishes them statewide. The narrow exceptions are: cases where a court has entered a sealing or expungement order, juvenile records (which are confidential by statute), and certain victim-identifying information that courts redact under protective orders.
Sealed and expunged records present a practical wrinkle. A record that has been expunged under Indiana’s Second Chance Law is removed from public view — MyCase will not return it, and the Clerk will not confirm its existence to a member of the public. Law enforcement agencies retain access, but the general public does not. If a MyCase search returns no results for a name you expected to find, an expungement order is one possible explanation.
Juvenile records in Perry County are handled separately from adult criminal records. Cases adjudicated in juvenile court are not accessible through MyCase’s public interface and are not releasable under APRA without a court order.
If you’re pulling records from another state to compare with a Perry County record, check that state’s own open-records statute. Several states restrict access to arrest records that Indiana would release freely, and some require a formal written request with a stated purpose before releasing booking information.
What’s in a Perry County arrest record?
A Perry County arrest record typically spans two distinct documents — the booking entry and the court docket — and each contains different fields. Understanding which system holds which data saves time when you’re looking for something specific.
The booking entry, held by the Perry County Sheriff’s Office, records the arrest itself. Fields include: the arrestee’s full name and date of birth, the booking date and time, the arresting agency (Sheriff, Tell City Police, Indiana State Police, or another department), the charges as listed at booking, and the assigned case or booking number. The Sheriff’s records portal at Perrycountysheriffar may surface some of this information. For the Perry County Courthouse’s mugshot release policy, contact the Sheriff’s Office directly — the policy isn’t published online.
The court docket, accessible through MyCase and maintained by the Perry County Circuit Court Clerk, reflects what happened after the arrest. Key fields include: the case number assigned by the court, the formal charges (which may differ from booking charges if the prosecutor amended them), all hearing dates and outcomes, the attorney of record for the defense, the prosecutor’s name, and — critically — the disposition.
The disposition is the final outcome of the case. It tells you whether the case ended in a conviction, an acquittal, a dismissal, a plea agreement, or a diversion. On MyCase, the disposition appears in the case’s event history, typically labeled as the judgment entry or final order. A case with no disposition listed is still pending. Disposition data is what background-check systems pull when they report whether an arrest led to a conviction — so it’s the field that matters most if you’re reviewing your own record before something important.
Note that the Perry County Courthouse has experienced internet connectivity issues that can occasionally delay portal updates. If a recent case isn’t appearing on MyCase yet, the Clerk’s office can confirm whether the docket entry has been processed.
How to expunge an arrest record in Perry County
What stays visible after a Perry County record is sealed — and to whom — is the question most people want answered before they decide whether to file. The short answer: law enforcement agencies retain full access to expunged records; the general public does not. MyCase removes the case from public search results, and the Clerk will not confirm its existence to a non-law-enforcement requester. That distinction matters for understanding what the process actually accomplishes.
Indiana handles all criminal-record relief under a single statute: Ind. Code § 35-38-9 (Indiana “Second Chance Law”). There is no separate sealing statute. The law is tiered by offense level, and the tier determines the waiting period and whether the court has discretion to deny the petition.
Arrests without a conviction. If you were arrested in Perry County but the case was dismissed or you were acquitted, the path is the most straightforward. A dismissal or acquittal triggers automatic expungement — the order takes effect no sooner than 60 days after the disposition. If the case was dismissed but the automatic expungement hasn’t occurred, you can petition to expunge the arrest record one year after the arrest date. The court must grant a petition for a non-conviction arrest that meets the waiting period.
Misdemeanor convictions. A misdemeanor conviction in Perry County can be expunged five years after the conviction date, provided you meet the eligibility requirements. The court must grant a qualifying petition — it is not discretionary once the waiting period and clean-record requirements are satisfied.
Class D / Level 6 felony convictions. The waiting period is eight years from the conviction date. As with misdemeanors, the court must grant a qualifying petition.
More serious felonies. The court may expunge after the later of eight years from conviction or three years from completing the sentence. The most serious felonies — and those involving sex offenses, violent offenses, or official misconduct — require the prosecutor’s written consent and carry a ten-year waiting period from conviction or five years from completing the sentence, whichever is later. Sex offenses, violent offenses, and official-misconduct convictions are excluded from the Second Chance Law entirely.
Filing in Perry County. File a verified petition at the Perry County Courthouse — specifically with the Perry County Circuit Court Clerk in the court where the conviction occurred (or the county of arrest for non-conviction records). Indiana requires that all petitions in a given county be filed together in a single filing. You effectively get one lifetime petition per county, so timing matters. Ask the Clerk about the current filing fee and whether an indigency waiver is available.
You can self-petition without an attorney, but the one-petition rule makes getting the timing right critical. If you’re unsure whether your record qualifies or whether the waiting period has run, confirm the current statute text or consult a licensed Indiana attorney before filing. The Indiana Roll of Attorneys search is at Indiana Roll of Attorneys attorney directory, and the Indiana Public Defender Commission locator is at Indiana Public Defender Council.
Quick contacts for Perry County arrest records
| Resource | What it confirms | What it cannot confirm | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyCase | Case number, charges, hearing dates, dispositions for Perry County courts | Booking details, sealed/expunged cases, cases not yet docketed | Search by name or case number — free, no account required |
| Perry County Circuit Court Clerk | Certified copies of court records, full case files, expungement petitions | Booking records, Sheriff-side arrest reports | Visit the Courthouse at 2219 Payne Street, Tell City, IN 47586 — call to confirm hours and fee |
| Perry County Sheriff’s Office | Booking records, arrest reports, detention information | Court dispositions, expunged records | Contact the Sheriff at 2211 Herrman Street, Tell City, IN 47586; main line 812-547-2441 |
| Perry County Sheriff records portal | Sheriff-side records available online | Court docket entries, sealed records | Search the portal directly; call the Sheriff’s Office to confirm scope |
| Indiana Department of Correction offender search | Current custody status at IDOC facilities including Branchville Correctional Facility | County jail holds, cases not resulting in state prison sentence | Search by name on the IDOC offender lookup tool |
| Nationwide database search | May surface records from other states, prior names, or federal cases | Cannot guarantee completeness; preliminary scan only | Use the form above; full report requires account creation |
Sources used for this page, verified 2026-07-26:
- Perry County Circuit Court Clerk — official Clerk office page; records request procedures and court forms
- Perry County Sheriff’s Office — Sheriff department page; booking records and law enforcement contacts
- Perry County Sheriff records portal — Sheriff-side public records search tool
- Perry County Sheriff’s Office main site — additional Sheriff contact and service information
- MyCase — Indiana statewide court case portal — public access to Perry County court dockets and dispositions
- Indiana Judicial Branch: Perry County — court directory and MyCase access link for Perry County
- Indiana Department of Correction offender search — IDOC custody status including Branchville Correctional Facility
- Perry County Circuit Court Clerk — Motion to Dismiss a Small Claims Case (PDF) — sample Clerk court form; illustrates document types maintained by the Clerk’s office
- Indiana Roll of Attorneys — attorney search for expungement representation
- Indiana Public Defender Commission — public defender locator for Perry County
Found an error? Report it here — we review corrections within 48 hours.
Frequently asked questions about Perry County arrest records
What charges appear on a Perry County arrest record, and where do I find them?
A Perry County arrest record carries two sets of charges: the booking charges recorded by the Perry County Sheriff’s Office at the time of arrest, and the formal charges filed by the prosecutor in court. Booking charges appear in the Sheriff’s records and may be accessible through the Sheriff’s records portal. Formal charges — which can differ if the prosecutor amended or reduced them — appear on the court docket in MyCase. The disposition field on MyCase shows the final outcome: conviction, acquittal, dismissal, or plea. If you need certified copies of either document, contact the Perry County Circuit Court Clerk at the Courthouse, 2219 Payne Street, Tell City, IN 47586.
How do I get a Perry County arrest record expunged under Indiana law?
Petitioning to seal an arrest record in Perry County is governed by Ind. Code § 35-38-9, Indiana’s Second Chance Law. For an arrest that did not result in a conviction, you may petition one year after the arrest date; dismissals and acquittals trigger automatic expungement no sooner than 60 days after the disposition. A misdemeanor conviction becomes eligible five years after conviction; a Class D or Level 6 felony, eight years after conviction. More serious felonies carry longer waiting periods and may require the prosecutor’s written consent. File a verified petition with the Perry County Circuit Court Clerk at the Perry County Courthouse — Indiana requires all county petitions to be filed together, and you effectively get one lifetime petition per county. Confirm the current filing fee with the Clerk before submitting, and review the current statute text or consult a licensed attorney to verify your eligibility before filing.
Search records by county: