Arrest Records for Montgomery County, Ohio

If you have a specific name to check — your own, a family member’s, or a client’s — Montgomery County keeps felony and misdemeanor court records through two separate systems. Felony cases filed in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas are maintained by Clerk of Courts Mike Foley at Clerkofcourts; the courthouse is at 41 N. Perry Street, Dayton, OH 45422, with weekday hours of 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office handles booking-side records and local background checks separately from the court docket. For state prison records, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction runs a statewide offender search at the state prison inmate locator.

If someone you know was just booked tonight, our Montgomery County inmate-search page has phone-first contact info.

If you need records outside Montgomery County

Montgomery County’s court portal covers cases filed in Dayton and the surrounding townships — but it won’t surface federal charges, records from neighboring counties like Greene or Warren, or arrests that predate the online system’s coverage window. A nationwide criminal database search may help fill gaps that local portals often leave, particularly if the person you’re researching has lived in multiple states. The preliminary scan is free; a full report requires creating an account.

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 Montgomery County

Pull up your own record the same way anyone else would — the search is public — but bring a government-issued photo ID if you plan to request certified copies in person, and ask the Clerk about the self-request fee, which is typically lower than third-party copy fees.

The Montgomery County Clerk of Courts records portal at Clerkofcourts is the primary source for court-side arrest records in Montgomery County. Clerk Mike Foley’s office is at 41 N. Perry Street, Dayton, OH 45422. Weekday hours run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; call the courthouse at (937) 496-7231 to confirm the current records-request fee before visiting. Note that newly issued tickets and recent filings may not appear in the online system immediately — the Clerk’s office has acknowledged portal lag after issuance.

All civil, criminal, and fugitive cases in the General Division of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas must be filed electronically, which means the online docket is the authoritative record for felony cases. The Montgomery County PROv3 case management system gives public access to docket entries, case numbers, and disposition data without requiring a trip downtown.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office handles booking-side records separately from the court docket. The Sheriff’s Records Department accepts cash, check, or money order for public records requests. For a local background check — which confirms whether a person has been booked into Montgomery County Jail — visit the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Local Background Check page. Inmate custody status is available through the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Inmate Information portal.

For state prison records, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Offender Search covers anyone committed to an ODRC facility statewide. You can filter by Montgomery County as the county of commitment. This tool does not cover county jail inmates — those are tracked by the Sheriff’s Office separately.

The Montgomery County Records Center & Archives is on the 6th floor of the Reibold Building at 117 South Main Street in Downtown Dayton. That office holds older paper records that may not be digitized. Confirm hours before visiting, and plan for parking: public lots near the courthouse are limited, and metered street parking (card only) or a parking garage three buildings away are the main options.

A practical note on phone access: the Montgomery County Courthouse line — (937) 496-7231 — can be difficult to reach during afternoon hours, particularly between 3:00 p.m. and 4:10 p.m. Plan calls for mid-morning if possible. Confirm numbers and hours before visiting or calling.

Are Montgomery County arrest records public?

Ohio’s open-records law covers the vast majority of arrest and court records generated in Montgomery County — the default is disclosure, not restriction.

Court filings, booking data, and case dockets are public records under ORC 149.43, the Ohio Public Records Act. Any person can request them without stating a reason. The Clerk of Courts cannot require you to explain why you want a record before providing it.

The narrow exceptions matter, though. A sealed record under ORC 2953.32 is removed from public view — the Clerk’s office will not confirm its existence to a member of the public, and it won’t appear in the online docket. Juvenile records are confidential by default under Ohio law and are not accessible through the adult court system. Victim-protection redactions may remove certain identifying details from otherwise public documents, particularly in domestic violence and sexual assault cases.

Booking photos — mugshots — are generally public under ORC 149.43 in Ohio. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Inmate Information portal may display booking photos for current or recent inmates. For the Sheriff’s Office mugshot release policy on older records, ask the Records Department directly — the policy for archived photos isn’t posted online.

Expunged records are a different category. Since Ohio Senate Bill 288, expungement under ORC 2953.32 means permanent destruction of the eligible record — not just sealing. An expunged record is gone from public access entirely. Law enforcement retains access to sealed records; expunged records have a narrower access window defined by the statute.

Federal cases — charges filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio — are not in the Montgomery County system at all. Those records live in the federal PACER system and won’t appear in any county search.

What’s in a Montgomery County arrest record?

A Montgomery County arrest record actually spans two separate systems, and knowing which one you need saves time.

On the court side, the docket maintained through the Montgomery County Courthouse and accessible via Montgomery County PROv3 shows: case number, filing date, charge description (statute cited), case type (felony or misdemeanor), current case status, scheduled hearing dates, and disposition — including whether charges were dismissed, reduced, or resulted in a conviction. The docket also lists the attorney of record for the defense. If you need to find current counsel for someone whose case is active, the docket entry will name the attorney and typically includes bar number. For cases where counsel has changed, look at the most recent docket entry rather than the original appearance entry.

On the booking side, the Sheriff’s Office record contains different fields: booking date and time, the arresting agency (Dayton PD, a township department, or the Sheriff’s Office itself), charges as listed at booking (which may differ from what was ultimately filed in court), bond amount set at first appearance, and physical descriptors captured at intake. Booking records and court dockets are separate documents — a charge that appears at booking may be amended or dropped before it ever reaches the court docket.

Case numbers follow a county-specific format in Montgomery County. Felony cases in the Common Pleas General Division carry a CR prefix; misdemeanor cases handled at the municipal level carry different prefixes depending on the court division. When you search Montgomery County PROv3, use the full case number if you have it, or search by name and filter by case type.

Disposition data — the final outcome — appears in the docket once the case closes. An arrest record without a disposition means the case is still pending or was resolved without a court entry (for example, charges declined by the prosecutor before filing). A “no information filed” outcome means the arrest did not result in charges.

One practical note: the Clerk’s office has confirmed that newly issued tickets and recent filings may not appear in the online system immediately after issuance. If a very recent arrest isn’t showing up online, the record may simply not have been entered yet.

How to expunge an arrest record in Montgomery County

A petition sitting on a desk at the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas — that’s where the process begins and ends for most people seeking to seal or expunge an arrest record in this county.

Ohio law under ORC 2953.32 governs both sealing and expungement of criminal records. Since Senate Bill 288, Ohio distinguishes between the two: sealing hides a record from public view while law enforcement retains access; expungement permanently destroys the eligible record. The petition for either goes to the Court of Common Pleas in the county where the case was sentenced — for Montgomery County cases, that’s the courthouse at 41 N. Perry Street, Dayton, OH 45422.

Call the Clerk to confirm the current filing fee before you go. An indigency waiver is available if you cannot afford the fee — ask the Clerk’s office for the fee waiver form at the time of filing. The Clerk’s office is open weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the courthouse number is (937) 496-7231.

Eligibility depends on the outcome of the case. Dismissed charges and acquittals often qualify for sealing without a waiting period — these are among the most straightforward petitions. If the case ended in a conviction, ORC 2953.32 sets waiting periods that vary by offense level; the exact duration is specified in the statute. Check the current text of ORC 2953.32 or ask the Clerk’s office which waiting period applies to your specific charge level, since the statute has been amended multiple times and the applicable window depends on when the conviction occurred and what the offense was.

Not all convictions are eligible. Certain offense categories — including most violent felonies and sex offenses — are excluded from sealing under ORC 2953.32. If your case involved one of those charge types, the statute does not provide a sealing path, and an attorney can advise whether any alternative relief exists.

Petitioning to seal an arrest record in Montgomery County is a routine civil filing. You can do it yourself — the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas has self-help resources, and pro se packet pickup is available at the courthouse between 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on weekdays. An attorney can handle the petition for you if the case is complex, if the prosecutor is likely to object, or if multiple records across different counties are involved. The Ohio State Bar Association lawyer referral service and the Ohio Public Defender’s county locator can connect you with counsel if needed.

After sealing, the record disappears from the public docket and from the Clerk’s online search. Law enforcement agencies and certain licensing boards retain access. After expungement under SB 288, the record is physically destroyed — the controlling statute defines who retains any residual access.

Quick-Reference Contacts

Frequently asked questions about Montgomery County arrest records

What charges will appear on a Montgomery County arrest record, and what happens next if charges were filed?

A Montgomery County arrest record can show two layers of charge information. The booking record — held by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office — lists the charges as recorded at intake, which may differ from what the prosecutor ultimately files. The court docket, searchable through Montgomery County PROv3, shows the charges as formally filed, any amendments, and the final disposition. If the prosecutor declined to file charges after an arrest, the court docket will show no case — only the booking record exists. If charges were filed, the docket tracks every hearing, plea, and outcome. Dismissed cases and acquittals are visible in the docket unless the record has been sealed under ORC 2953.32.

Can a Montgomery County arrest record be sealed or expunged, and how does the process work?

Petitioning to seal or expunge a Montgomery County arrest record is a routine civil filing at the Court of Common Pleas, 41 N. Perry Street, Dayton, OH 45422. Ohio law under ORC 2953.32 governs eligibility. Dismissed charges and acquittals often qualify without a waiting period. Convictions require a waiting period set by the statute — the exact duration depends on the offense level and when the conviction occurred; check the current ORC 2953.32 text or ask the Clerk’s office which window applies to your case. Call (937) 496-7231 to confirm the current filing fee; an indigency waiver is available if you cannot afford it. After sealing, the record is removed from public view but remains accessible to law enforcement. Since Senate Bill 288, expungement means permanent destruction of the record. Self-help packets are available at the courthouse between 1:00 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. on weekdays; the Ohio Public Defender’s county locator can connect you with free legal help if needed.