Richwood Criminal History Checks
Begin with Richwood Police when the goal is the city incident or arrest narrative. Begin with the City Clerk and Municipal Court when the goal is a city ordinance docket, fine, judgment, or warrant entry. A state misdemeanor or preliminary felony file belongs to Nicholas County Magistrate Court. A felony that continues belongs to Circuit Court. Current custody is a WVDCR question because no active Richwood city holding facility was verified.
- Call Richwood Police at 304-846-2571 for the report custodian, then identify the event by date, place, person, and report number when known.
- Contact the City Clerk or Municipal Court at 304-846-2596 or richwoodcityclerk@gmail.com for a city docket entry by party, warrant or citation number, and date.
- Use MCRSearch for a state misdemeanor, complaint, warrant context, or preliminary felony proceeding, then request documents from the Magistrate Clerk.
- Use WVPASS and the Nicholas Circuit Clerk for a continuing felony, later order, or appeal.
- Use WVDCR’s jail and daily-incarceration routes for custody, with Central Regional Jail as the telephone fallback.
Richwood Records at J.H. Meadows
Richwood’s city offices operate from the J.H. Meadows Municipal Complex at 6 White Avenue, Richwood, WV 26261. City Hall is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be reached at 304-846-2596 or cityofrichwood@gmail.com. The City Clerk and Municipal Court use the same main phone, and the clerk’s published email is richwoodcityclerk@gmail.com. The police department’s number is 304-846-2571. These are separate functions under one municipal roof.
The official Richwood municipal site is shown in the captured source below.
The shared complex makes the city route practical, but it does not merge a Richwood police report with the clerk’s court docket.
Note: Richwood City Hall, Municipal Court, and Police share a complex, yet each function keeps its own records role.
Records at the Richwood Police Department
Richwood Police holds reports it creates. Ask for a specific incident or arrest report by event date, time, place, report number, and the part needed. State a preferred delivery method and ask whether inspection or an electronic copy is available. No separate records-unit schedule, form, portal, app, blotter, or published report-copy fee was found, so confirm the current procedure and cost before placing an order.
Police Chief Dan Pitts and the department are listed at 304-846-2571. City Hall can route a written West Virginia FOIA request when a report is not released through a routine process. Juvenile details, protected victim information, personal identifiers, and exempt investigative facts may be redacted. WVSP Richwood at 304-846-6510 is a different law-enforcement custodian. A state police report should be requested from WVSP, not from the city.
No Richwood Record Search Portal
Richwood does not publish a verified online municipal docket, police-record form, or local arrest log. That gap does not mean no record exists. It means the access path is the clerk, police department, email, counter, and a focused written request. Ask for the exact record, not a broad label such as “everything.” For the court, request the permanent docket entry or judgment tied to a citation, warrant, party, and date. For police, request the incident narrative or other named report part.
The city’s official charter and code access page appears below.
That page warns that updated code material is available at City Hall, so current penalties or procedures should be confirmed with the clerk.
Booking and Arrest Records in Richwood
No verified active Richwood holding facility was found. A Richwood arrest ordinarily moves to Central Regional Jail in Sutton, a WVDCR facility serving Nicholas and seven other counties. Search WVDCR Daily Incarcerations for recent movement and the jail route for pretrial or regional custody. A prison search answers a later sentenced-custody question. Read the result heading because a list may be organized by institution or sentencing county rather than the city that made the arrest.
If the record is missing, call Central Regional Jail at 304-765-7904, check name spelling and birth date, then search MCRSearch for the complaint. Contact Richwood Police for the narrative. A release from custody is not a dismissal. A jail charge is an intake allegation and may not match the final charge. The full Nicholas County arrest search explains the regional booking chain in more depth.
Note: Richwood has no official public booking blotter, so WVDCR is the verified public substitute for recent custody movement.
Richwood Record Custodians Compared
The city clerk, city police, Magistrate Clerk, Circuit Clerk, and WVDCR each answer a different question. A police report gives the event narrative. The municipal docket records city process and judgment. The Magistrate file carries a state complaint and early hearings. Circuit Court holds a continuing felony or appeal. WVDCR shows custody. Keeping those lines clear prevents one office from being asked to retrieve another office’s record.
| Richwood record | First route | Request key | Gap or fallback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Police report | Richwood Police, 304-846-2571 | Date, place, report number | City email, counter, or WV FOIA |
| Municipal docket | City Clerk, phone or email | Party, warrant or citation, date | Permanent docket required by code |
| State case | MCRSearch or WVPASS | Name or case number | Nicholas court clerks for documents |
| Booking | WVDCR Offender Search | Name and custody context | Central Regional Jail phone |
The Richwood Municipal Court File
Richwood Code sections 2-12 through 2-16 require the municipal judge to hear violations of city ordinances, codes, and rules. An acting judge may be appointed. Court process goes to the police chief or subordinates. Most useful for a record seeker, the judge must keep a permanent docket. Entries record warrants, arrests, trials, fines, sentences, and judgments, and the judge signs an entry on its date.
| Court | Richwood Municipal Court at the J.H. Meadows Municipal Complex. |
|---|---|
| Case scope | Violations of Richwood ordinances, codes, and rules. |
| Lookup route | City Clerk by phone, email, or counter; no verified public portal. |
| Permanent docket | Warrants, arrests, trials, fines, sentences, and judgments. |
| Useful keys | Party name, warrant or citation number, and event or entry date. |
| Copies and fees | No official copy fee located; confirm with the clerk. |
The state registry disclosure statute shown below concerns a different public record system and should not be confused with Richwood’s city docket.
The comparison reinforces the rule that each Richwood record must be requested from its actual custodian.
Note: The permanent Richwood docket records city court events, while a police narrative remains with the department that created it.
Richwood Fixed-Fine Docket Entries
Richwood’s code provides a concrete city procedure. A person accused of a municipal violation may be arrested or given notice to appear. When local procedure permits, the person may appear before the clerk or another designated officer before the court date, answer the charge, and pay a fixed fine. That fact supports a focused request for the docket entry and judgment tied to a specific citation number.
It does not mean every Richwood arrest can be resolved at City Hall. State charges still move to Nicholas County Magistrate or Circuit Court, and a police narrative remains with Richwood Police. A reader should confirm the current code and process with the clerk because the city warns that updated code text is available at City Hall. No fixed-fine schedule or fee amount was verified in the research, so none should be assumed.
How Richwood Records Reach the County
A Richwood Police report stays with the city agency. A municipal charge creates the permanent city docket. If the officer proceeds under state law, Magistrate Court creates the complaint, bail, warrant-related, and preliminary record. A felony that continues moves to Nicholas County Circuit Court. WVDCR creates the booking and custody record, while fingerprint-linked arrest and final disposition data may flow to the West Virginia State Police Criminal Identification Bureau.
Record flow: Richwood Police › Nicholas County Courts › West Virginia State Police Criminal Identification Bureau
That flow is a guide to custody, not a merger of files. Obtain the Richwood narrative from police, the city judgment from the clerk, the state case from the correct county clerk, and custody from WVDCR. An empty result in one source does not erase the others.
Richwood Records and Timber History
Richwood stands where the North and South Forks of the Cherry River meet, at an elevation of about 2,268 feet. The town developed around the Cherry River Boom & Lumber Company, incorporated in 1901, and changed its name from Cherry Tree Bottoms to reflect its timber wealth. By the 1930s, the population neared 6,000 and major tannery and clothespin work helped drive city life. Later plant closures and the 2016 flood reshaped municipal operations and the community.
Today Richwood calls itself the Gateway to the Monongahela National Forest. This local history explains why an eastern Nicholas County city maintains its own police and municipal court channels even though the county courthouse is in Summersville and the regional jail is in Sutton. Travel can span three towns for one event. Calling the Richwood custodian first, with the record number in hand, can prevent an unnecessary trip.
Richwood Record Access Rules
West Virginia FOIA provides access to nonexempt public-body records. A Richwood request should identify the city office, exact record, date range, event, and report or citation number when available. Ask for inspection or an electronic copy in the existing format. If copying cost is unknown, request an estimate. The city can protect juvenile identities, victim details, personal identifiers, sealed material, and exempt investigative facts.
Key statutes:
West Virginia Freedom of Information Act opens city records subject to exemptions and reasonable reproduction rules.
W.Va. Code §15-2-24(d) requires signed and acknowledged authorization for private release of a CIB criminal history.
W.Va. Code §61-11-26 governs qualifying conviction expungement through Circuit Court, not deletion by City Hall.
Municipal court records follow their court custodian as well. If a Richwood case was appealed, the Nicholas Circuit Clerk is the correct route for the appeal file.
Note: Richwood’s online code may lag the current City Hall copy, so confirm any present penalty or procedure with the clerk.
Richwood Crime Records in Context
FBI agency figures are historical counts and must stay tied to their year. In 2019, Richwood reported 1 violent crime and 26 property crimes, including 4 burglaries, 16 larceny-thefts, and 6 motor-vehicle thefts. The agency reported 6 violent and 32 property crimes in 2018, and 6 violent and 84 property crimes in 2017, along with 1 arson that year. These totals are not current forecasts or claims about any person.
The official FBI agency table is represented below.
Use it for past agency context only. A present Richwood record check still requires the police, city clerk, county court, or WVDCR channel that owns the requested file.
County justice programs can also affect later court entries without changing who owns the city report. An official judicial biography documents Nicholas County’s Adult Diversion and Family Treatment Court work.
Those programs belong in the county court record layer, not in Richwood Police’s incident file or the municipal docket.