Wells County arrest records live in two separate systems: court case files maintained by the Wells County Clerk of Court at the courthouse in Bluffton, and booking records held by the Wells County Sheriff’s Department. The statewide MyCase portal covers Wells County Circuit Court and Superior Court cases and is the fastest online path for most records checks. For in-person requests, the Wells County Courthouse sits at 102 West Market Street, Suite 205, Bluffton, IN 46714. The Sheriff’s Department operates Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; bring a government-issued ID when you visit.
If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Wells County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.
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How to look up arrest records in Wells County
Any member of the public can request Wells County arrest records under Indiana’s open-records law — you do not need to be the subject of the record, an attorney, or a relative to make a valid request. That said, what each pathway returns differs depending on whether you want court-side docket data or Sheriff-side booking data, so knowing which system holds what you need saves a trip.
MyCase — court docket records online. The Indiana Supreme Court’s MyCase portal covers both the Wells County Circuit Court and the Wells County Superior Court. Search by name or case number. MyCase shows case filings, charge descriptions, hearing dates, and dispositions for most criminal matters. It does not show booking photos or Sheriff-side intake data. Access is free and requires no account.
Wells County Clerk of Court — certified copies. MyCase gives you the docket view, but a certified copy of a court record requires a written request to the Wells County Clerk of Court, located at 102 West Market Street, Bluffton, IN 46714. The Clerk’s office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call to confirm the current per-page copy fee before visiting, as fees can change. Attorneys of record can request copies on behalf of clients; third parties may request any non-sealed public record without special authorization.
Wells County Sheriff’s Department — booking records. Booking data — including intake date, charges at booking, and any booking photograph — is held by the Wells County Sheriff’s Department. Call (260) 824-3426 to ask about the records-request process. The department is at 1615 Western Ave, Bluffton, IN — the same address as the fingerprinting office, which operates Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bring a government-issued ID. The Wells County Sheriff’s Department publishes a jail information page that lists current procedures and a Bail Bondsmen List if you need that context alongside a booking record.
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 custody. Wells County jail holds pretrial detainees and short sentences; longer sentences move to state facilities tracked through IDOC.
Public records request form. Wells County also maintains a formal Request for Public Record Form that you can submit to the Wells County Commissioners at 102 West Market Street, Suite 205, Bluffton, IN 46714. This route works for records held by county offices generally, not just the courts. Confirm numbers and hours before visiting or calling, as office schedules can shift.
Are Wells County arrest records public?
Know the narrow exceptions before you search — they determine whether the record you want is accessible at all. Under Ind. Code § 5-14-3, Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act, arrest and booking records are presumptively public documents. Any person — regardless of their relationship to the subject — can request them. Wells County’s Sheriff’s Department and courts operate under that default-open framework.
Juvenile records are the most significant exception. Indiana law treats records involving minors as confidential by default. Juvenile court proceedings in Wells County are not accessible through MyCase’s public search, and the Sheriff’s Department does not release juvenile booking records to the general public. This confidentiality protection applies regardless of the offense charged.
Expunged records are a second category of exception. Once a Wells County court grants an expungement order under Indiana’s Second Chance Law, the public record is sealed. MyCase will no longer display the case to the public, and the Clerk of Court cannot confirm the record’s existence to a non-law-enforcement requester. Law enforcement agencies retain access to sealed records; the public does not.
Victim-protection redactions apply in certain cases. Records involving sexual offenses may have victim identifying information removed before release. The Clerk of Court handles these redactions on a case-by-case basis — the underlying case remains public, but specific fields are withheld.
Pending charges that were dismissed or resulted in acquittal occupy a middle ground. Under Indiana law, a dismissal or acquittal triggers automatic expungement — the order takes effect no sooner than 60 days after the court enters it. Until that order takes effect, the case may still appear in MyCase. After it does, the public record is sealed.
What’s in a Wells County arrest record?
“Arrest record” covers two distinct documents that live in different systems and show different fields — understanding which one you’re looking at matters before you draw conclusions from what you see.
The Sheriff-side booking record is created at the Wells County jail when someone is processed in. It typically contains: the booking date and time, the person’s full legal name and date of birth, the charges as listed at intake (which may differ from what the prosecutor later files), the arresting agency, and a booking photograph. Indiana’s Access to Public Records Act makes booking photos generally available to the public. For Wells County’s specific mugshot release policy, call the Sheriff’s Department at (260) 824-3426 — the policy details aren’t published in a standalone online document, so a direct inquiry is the reliable path.
The court-side docket record lives in the Wells County Circuit Court or Superior Court file and is accessible through MyCase. It contains: the case number, the formal charges as filed by the prosecutor (which may be different from booking charges), all hearing dates and outcomes, bond information, attorney of record, and the final disposition — guilty plea, conviction after trial, dismissal, or acquittal. The docket is the authoritative record of what actually happened in court; the booking record is a snapshot of what the Sheriff knew at intake.
When a case is partially sealed — for example, when certain counts are expunged but others remain — the docket entry in MyCase may show that a case exists at the Wells County Courthouse without displaying the sealed case details. You’ll see a case number and a notation that records are restricted, but the charge descriptions and disposition will not be visible to the public. The Wells County Clerk of Court can confirm whether a restriction is in place; they cannot confirm the contents of a sealed file.
Federal charges never appear in MyCase or in Wells County court records. If you’re researching a matter that may have involved federal prosecution, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana handles federal cases originating in Wells County. That court’s PACER system is a separate access path entirely.
How to expunge an arrest record in Wells County
Who qualifies to petition for expungement in Wells County — and when — depends on the outcome of the underlying case and the offense level involved. Indiana’s framework is tiered, and getting the timing right matters because the state effectively limits each person to one expungement petition per lifetime.
Ind. Code § 35-38-9 (Indiana “Second Chance Law”) governs the entire expungement process. It covers arrests, misdemeanor convictions, and most felony convictions, with specific exclusions for sex offenses, violent offenses, and official-misconduct offenses — those categories are not eligible regardless of how much time has passed.
Arrests without conviction. If you were arrested in Wells County but the case was dismissed, you were acquitted, or charges were never filed, you can petition to expunge the arrest record one year after the arrest date. Dismissals and acquittals also trigger automatic expungement under Indiana law, with the order taking effect no sooner than 60 days after the court enters it. If the automatic process hasn’t cleared the record from public view, a petition is the manual path.
Misdemeanor convictions. A waiting period of five years from the date of conviction applies. The court must grant the petition if you meet the eligibility criteria — meaning the judge does not have discretion to deny a qualifying misdemeanor petition.
Class D or Level 6 felony convictions. The waiting period is eight years from the date of conviction. As with misdemeanors, the court must grant a qualifying petition.
More serious felony convictions. The waiting period is the later of eight years from conviction or three years from completing the sentence. For the most serious felonies, the period extends to the later of ten years from conviction or five years from completing the sentence — and those petitions also require the Wells County prosecutor’s written consent before the court can act.
Where to file. File your verified petition in the Wells County court where the conviction occurred. For non-conviction records, file in the county where the arrest took place — which for Wells County arrests means the Circuit Court or Superior Court in Bluffton. Indiana requires that all petitions in a given county be filed together in a single filing; you cannot stagger them across multiple filings.
Filing fee and indigency waiver. A filing fee applies. Ask the Wells County Clerk of Court for the current amount when you pick up or download the petition forms — fees are set by statute and can be updated. If you cannot afford the fee, an indigency waiver path exists; ask the Clerk about the process.
Self-petition vs. attorney-assisted. You can file a petition without an attorney. The Wells County county forms page lists available forms. That said, the one-petition-per-lifetime rule means a procedural error can close the door permanently. If your situation involves multiple cases, prior out-of-state records, or a felony that requires prosecutor consent, consulting a licensed Indiana attorney before filing is worth the time. The Indiana Roll of Attorneys search lets you verify any attorney’s license status. The Indiana Public Defender Council at Indiana Public Defender Council can help identify low-cost options.
What remains visible after expungement. Once the Wells County court grants an expungement order, the public record is sealed — MyCase will no longer display it to the public, and the Clerk cannot confirm its existence to non-law-enforcement requesters. Law enforcement agencies, including the Wells County Sheriff’s Department, retain access to sealed records. The Indiana State Police criminal history repository also retains the record for law enforcement purposes.
Quick-contacts table
| Resource | What it confirms | What it cannot confirm | Next step |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyCase — Indiana Courts | Case number, charges as filed, hearing dates, disposition, attorney of record for Wells County Circuit and Superior Court cases | Booking photos, Sheriff-side intake data, sealed or expunged cases, federal charges | Search by name or case number; free, no account required |
| Wells County Clerk of Court | Certified copies of court records; whether a restriction is in place on a case | Contents of sealed files; booking records held by the Sheriff | Visit 102 W. Market St., Bluffton, IN 46714, Mon–Fri 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; call to confirm copy fee |
| Wells County Sheriff’s Department | Booking records, intake charges, booking photographs (subject to release policy), jail information | Court dispositions; sealed records | Call (260) 824-3426 or visit 1615 Western Ave, Bluffton, IN; bring government ID |
| Indiana Department of Correction offender search | Current and past IDOC custody status for state-sentenced individuals | County jail holds; pretrial detainees; expunged records | Search by name or IDOC number on the IDOC offender search tool |
| Indiana County Jail offender locator | Current county jail custody across Indiana jails that report to the state portal | Historical booking records; court case details; sealed records | Search by name; state-level fallback when county roster isn’t separately published |
| Indiana Judicial Branch Public Records | Statewide guidance on court record access, MyCase FAQ, and links to court-specific resources | Individual case data (use MyCase directly for that) | Review the public records guidance page for access rules and court contact information |
Sources used for this page, verified 2026-07-21:
- Wells County Sheriff’s Office — Jail Information page — booking procedures, bondsmen list, jail contact details
- Wells County Request for Public Record Form — official APRA request form for county records
- Wells County Clerk of Court — court records access and certified copy requests
- Wells County Circuit Court — general jurisdiction trial court for Wells County
- Wells County Superior Court — additional trial court jurisdiction in Wells County
- Indiana MyCase docket search — online case search covering Wells County courts
- Indiana Judicial Branch: Public Records — statewide guidance on court record access under Indiana law
- Indiana Department of Correction offender search — state prison custody records
- Indiana County Jail offender locator — statewide county jail custody search
- Wells County Bail Bondsmen List — current licensed bondsmen for Wells County, updated March 2026
Found an error or outdated detail? Submit a correction — we review and update within 48 hours.
Frequently asked questions about Wells County arrest records
How do I find out what’s on my own Wells County arrest record?
Your own Wells County arrest record exists in two places. Court-side data — charges filed, hearing outcomes, and case dispositions — appears in MyCase under your name. Booking data held by the Wells County Sheriff’s Department requires a direct request; call (260) 824-3426 and ask about the records-request process. For a certified copy of a court record, visit the Wells County Clerk of Court at 102 West Market Street, Bluffton, IN 46714 during weekday business hours. If a prior arrest was expunged, it will not appear in MyCase’s public view — but you can confirm whether an expungement order was entered by asking the Clerk directly.
How do I get a Wells County arrest record expunged under Indiana law?
Indiana’s Second Chance Law (Ind. Code § 35-38-9) sets the eligibility rules. An arrest that did not result in conviction can be petitioned for expungement one year after the arrest date; dismissals and acquittals also trigger automatic expungement, taking effect no sooner than 60 days after the court’s order. A misdemeanor conviction requires a five-year wait from the conviction date; a Class D or Level 6 felony requires eight years. File a verified petition at the Wells County Circuit Court or Superior Court — whichever court handled the original case — at 102 West Market Street, Bluffton, IN 46714. Indiana requires all petitions in a given county to be filed together in a single filing. The Wells County Clerk of Court can tell you the current filing fee and whether an indigency waiver applies to your situation. Because Indiana limits each person to effectively one expungement petition per lifetime, confirm the current statute text or ask the Clerk before filing.
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