Preston County Arrest History
A Preston County arrest may be made by a sheriff's deputy, a municipal police officer, or a West Virginia State Police trooper. Each agency keeps the report its own officer created. The Preston County Sheriff cannot supply a Kingwood Police or WVSP report merely because the arrest happened within the county. Start by confirming the agency and approximate event date.
The same event can produce four distinct records. The agency report describes the event and arrest basis. The West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation creates a booking and custody entry at regional intake. Magistrate, Circuit, or municipal court records show filed charges and later proceedings. A fingerprint-linked arrest cycle may also reach the West Virginia State Police Criminal Identification Bureau. Those Preston County arrest records should be compared, not merged into one assumed timeline.
The official Sheriff Department page identifies the county office and its report channel.
That county source is appropriate for deputy-created reports, but it is not a universal arrest-history database.
No Stand-Alone Preston Jail Roster
Preston County does not run a stand-alone county jail roster or jail lobby in Kingwood. People taken into custody enter West Virginia's regional system. The official WVDCR search hub offers Daily Incarcerations, Offender Search for Jails, Offender Search for Prisons, and an Escapees and Absconders tool. Each answers a different question.
Daily Incarcerations helps identify recent admissions. The named jail search asks whether a person is currently in jail. Prison Search applies to sentenced state custody, not a new Preston County booking. An empty result therefore does not prove that no arrest occurred. The person may have been released, the booking may not yet be visible, the spelling may differ, or the record may belong with an arresting agency and court rather than a live custody list.
The WVDCR Offender Search hub is the official starting screen for these separate custody tools.
The menu structure helps prevent a recent booking search from being mistaken for a prison-record search.
Looking Up Preston County Arrests
No one portal gives a complete Preston County arrest history. Use the regional custody tools for a recent booking, then follow the event to the agency and court. The state repository is a separate biometric record-review channel. A channel-complete search works as follows:
- Identify the arresting agency, date, and location. Check DCR Daily Incarcerations for a recent admission, then use the jail name search with at least the first three letters of the last name and an optional first name.
- Request the report from the agency that made the arrest. Use the Preston County Sheriff's form only for deputy-created incidents, and use the relevant municipal or WVSP custodian for its own records.
- Search Magistrate Record Search for a complaint, initial appearance, or misdemeanor. If a felony proceeds to Circuit Court, use WVPASS and contact the Circuit Clerk for missing documents.
- For one's own official fingerprint-linked history, schedule the proper IdentoGO service under the WVSP process. West Virginia has no unrestricted public name-search repository.
- Use a reasonably specific West Virginia FOIA request when the correct custodian has no standard form or the needed nonexempt record is not offered online. State the document, date range, location, and preferred format.
A same-day booking can appear before a searchable court update. If custody status is urgent, confirm the facility by phone. Use VINE for later custody changes, not as a historical Preston County arrest search.
Which Agency Holds Preston Arrest Records
The correct custodian depends on the badge that created the report. The Preston County Sheriff is at 103 W Main Street, Kingwood, 304-329-1611. The WVSP Kingwood Detachment is at 50 JT Brammer Lane, Kingwood, 304-329-1101. State-police formal requests can also route through WVSP Legal and FOIA at 304-746-2100.
| Arresting agency | Official record route | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Preston County Sheriff | 103 W Main St; 304-329-1611; report form | Deputy-created reports |
| WVSP Kingwood | 50 JT Brammer Lane; 304-329-1101 | Trooper-created arrests and reports |
| Kingwood Police | 313 Tunnelton St; 304-329-7455 | City incidents and citations |
| Terra Alta Police | 701 A E State Ave; 304-789-6664 | Town incidents and citations |
| Reedsville Town Hall | 207 S Robert Stone Way; 304-864-3437 | Town-record fallback |
Reedsville has no dedicated report form in the official research, so Town Hall is the documented fallback. If the incident was municipal, do not send the county sheriff form and expect the city record. If the arrest led to filed charges, the later docket is available through the relevant Preston County criminal court case channel.
Inside a Preston County Arrest Record
“Arrest record” can mean an agency report or a booking entry. An agency report may show the report number, date and time, location, arresting officer, subject descriptors, alleged offense, statute, probable-cause narrative, and evidence references, subject to lawful redaction. Booking data focuses on custody and intake. It can show physical identifiers, the regional jail, booking date, charge, issuing agency, case number, and bail fields.
| Record Identifier | An agency report number, booking entry, or court case number links the correct source. |
|---|---|
| Booking Date | The regional intake date, which may differ from later filing or hearing dates. |
| Arresting Agency | Identifies the custodian for the event report. |
| Charges | Accusations recorded at intake; wording can change when a prosecutor files a case. |
| Bail | The jail profile may show bail type and amount when reported. |
| Photo and Descriptors | The official jail profile can include a photo, name, birth date, height, weight, race, and gender. |
| Custody Location | Shows the jail tied to the current entry, subject to rapid change. |
Do not promise an exact release date, court date, cell assignment, or medical or security flag. Those fields were not safely confirmed in the inspected official jail interface. Open “More Info” to check official fields for a legitimate personal purpose, but do not republish a private profile or treat an intake photo as proof of guilt.
Tygart Valley Preston Booking Records
Tygart Valley Regional Jail and Correctional Facility serves Preston County from 400 Abbey Road in Belington. Its main phone is 304-637-0382. It opened in June 2005 and serves several counties through WVDCR's regional model. That structure is why a Preston County arrest can create a booking record outside Kingwood even when the arrest and court case remain tied to Preston.
The intake path begins with the officer's report and transport. Regional staff then conduct identity, medical, and security screening, take fingerprints and a photo, inventory property, and record charges and bail. The initial magistrate process follows. Jail and court systems update separately, so their timestamps and charge wording can differ without either screen necessarily being wrong.
The official Tygart Valley facility page confirms the regional location and Preston service area.
The facility page should be used for current contact facts; the jail search remains the place to check a named current custody entry.
Booking Logs and Recent Arrests
No official Preston County sheriff daily blotter, mugshot gallery, or local arrest-log page was found. DCR Daily Incarcerations is the official recent-booking substitute. Start there for recent admissions, then use the named Jail Search to check current custody. The jail form requires at least the first three letters of a last name, accepts an optional first name, and uses reCAPTCHA.
A roster is a live operational tool, not a full archive. Entries can change after release or transfer, and an absence says little about an old arrest. DCR's “More Info” link may supply the jail location, booking date, descriptors, charge, issuing agency, case number, and bail information. Verify a time-sensitive status with the facility because custody data changes fast.
VINE offers 24-hour notification at 1-866-WV4-VINE, or 1-866-984-8463, and through VINELink. It tracks future custody changes. A transfer notice may wait until arrival at the new facility, and VINE is not a Preston County booking archive.
Preston Sheriff Report Decision
The Sheriff's one-page Report Request Form covers crime and vehicle-crash reports made by deputies. It asks for requester contact and mailing information, involvement in the event, the crime or crash date and location, and event-specific identifiers. A crime or crash report costs $10 each. A photo or audio disc costs $20 if available. The form does not establish a separate booking-record, local-clearance, or certified-copy fee.
Mail or deliver the form, payment, and a self-addressed envelope to the Sheriff's Office. The form promises notice within five business days on approval or denial. An approved copy is mailed in the supplied envelope. Because the form does not state accepted payment types, identification rules, notarization, or electronic submission, call 304-329-1611 before sending the request when any of those details matter.
Preston County Sheriff's Office
103 W Main Street
Kingwood, WV 26537
304-329-1611
Custodian for reports created by Preston County deputies.
Note: The sheriff's report form is an incident-record channel, not a public statewide criminal-history check.
Preston Booking Charges Can Change
A booking charge records the accusation supplied at intake. The prosecutor may later file different charges, dismiss a count, or decline to proceed. Magistrate Court then records the complaint, first appearance, bail, and early felony work. If a felony moves forward, Circuit Court records the indictment, arraignment, motions, plea or trial, judgment, and sentence.
This timing explains why a Preston County arrest can appear in Daily Incarcerations before a court case appears online. It also explains why an old booking label should not be used as the final result. Match the issuing agency and case number where possible. Then read the court's charge-level disposition. For one's own fingerprint-linked record, WVSP Form 136A is the documented challenge route if a reported disposition is wrong, with a stated $20 processing fee.
Arrests Are Not Convictions
An arrest proves that an agency took a person into custody or otherwise recorded an arrest event. It does not prove the charge was filed, upheld, or resolved with a guilty judgment. A conviction comes from the court after a guilty plea or adjudication. The two records have different creators, fields, and update paths.
| Point | Arrest record | Conviction record |
|---|---|---|
| Creator | Arresting agency and regional jail | Magistrate, Circuit, or municipal court |
| Meaning | Custody and accusation at that time | A guilty judgment or accepted guilty plea |
| Location | Agency report and WVDCR booking system | Court clerk and reported repository history |
| Later result | Release, no filing, or changed charge may follow | Sentence, appeal, or lawful expungement may follow |
Note: A Preston County arrest is not proof of guilt, and the court disposition supplies the filed outcome.
Juvenile arrest records are restricted. Victim details, active investigative material, and sensitive personal data can also be withheld or redacted under the West Virginia FOIA exemptions. Qualifying records may be expunged only through the legal process and a court order. Until then, verify each source and date rather than assuming one Preston County arrest lookup is complete.