Search Wexford County Arrest Records
Wexford County arrest records are official public documents generated when someone is taken into custody anywhere in this northern Michigan county. The county seat is Cadillac, home to the Wexford County Sheriff, the 28th Circuit Court, and the county jail. Residents and researchers can find arrest records through the sheriff's office, the statewide ICHAT criminal history database, and the Michigan court case search. This page explains each of those tools and how to use them to find what you need.
Wexford County Overview
Wexford County Sheriff's Office and Jail
The Wexford County Sheriff's Office is the main law enforcement and jail authority in the county. You can reach the sheriff at 231-779-9956. The office is in Cadillac and the sheriff's website is at wexfordcounty.org. The sheriff handles patrol for the unincorporated townships and rural areas of the county, operates the Wexford County Jail, and works with local police in Cadillac on cases that overlap both jurisdictions.
Booking records from the Wexford County Jail are public records under MCL 15.231 et seq. To find out if someone is currently in the jail, call the sheriff's office. Staff can usually confirm custody status over the phone without requiring you to file anything. For a copy of a booking record, arrest report, or incident report, submit a written FOIA request to the sheriff's office. Include the subject's full name, approximate date of the incident, and the type of record you want. The office has five business days to respond with records, a denial, or a request for more time.
Local police in the city of Cadillac handle calls within city limits. The Cadillac Police Department keeps its own records and handles its own FOIA requests. If you are not certain which agency made an arrest, start with the sheriff. They can typically point you to the right office. For incidents on US-131, which runs north-south through the county, state police may have been the arresting agency rather than the county sheriff or local police.
ICHAT: Statewide Criminal History for Wexford County
ICHAT is the Internet Criminal History Access Tool run by the Michigan State Police under MCL 28.241. A search costs $10 and returns a person's full Michigan criminal history, pulling records from all 83 counties into one report. Run a search at apps.michigan.gov. All you need is a name and date of birth. Results come back right away as a downloadable PDF.
ICHAT is particularly useful when you want to see whether someone has had cases in multiple counties. If someone was arrested in Wexford County but also has older cases from Missaukee or Osceola County, ICHAT shows all of it in one result. That makes it more efficient than contacting sheriffs and clerks in each county individually. The Cadillac area draws workers and seasonal visitors from around northern Michigan, so multi-county histories are not unusual.
There are limits to what ICHAT shows. Arrests that did not result in charges or convictions may not be included. Juvenile records are excluded by law. Records that have been set aside under the Clean Slate Act, MCL 780.621g, are removed from public view. The system is not real time, so a very recent arrest may not yet appear. For the most current local booking information, calling the Wexford County Sheriff at 231-779-9956 is still the best first step for anything recent.
The Michigan court case search at courts.michigan.gov/case-search is free and shows cases from the Wexford County 28th Circuit Court and district courts. The screenshot below shows the search portal.
Search by name or case number. Filter by county or court name to focus on Wexford County records specifically. No account or fee is needed to use the tool.
28th Circuit Court and Local Court Records
Felony criminal cases in Wexford County are handled by the 28th Circuit Court in Cadillac. The 28th Circuit also covers Missaukee County. Misdemeanor and traffic cases go to the 84th District Court. Both courts are searchable for free through the Michigan court case search at courts.michigan.gov/case-search. You can search by a person's name or by a specific case number and get results without logging in.
Case search results show the type of charge, the filing date, scheduled hearings, and the final disposition if the case is closed. After confirming an arrest through the sheriff or ICHAT, the court search tells you what charges were actually filed and how the case resolved. An arrest and a conviction are two different things. Some cases get dismissed, some result in plea deals, and some go to trial. The court record shows which one happened in a specific case.
Court records in Wexford County are public unless sealed by a judge. Most adult criminal cases are accessible. Visit the 28th Circuit Court clerk's office in Cadillac to review files in person or request copies. Certified copies carry the court's official seal and are needed for legal uses like government applications or court filings in other cases. Plain copies are cheaper and work for most informational purposes. The clerk can give you the current fee schedule and tell you how quickly copies can be prepared.
The 84th District Court handles misdemeanors and also processes civil infractions and small claims for the county. District court records appear in the same Michigan court case search system alongside circuit court records. A single name search returns results from both levels without any extra steps.
OTIS: Michigan Department of Corrections Records
OTIS is the Michigan Department of Corrections Offender Tracking Information System. It is a free public database covering people who have been sentenced to Michigan state prison. If someone arrested in Wexford County was later convicted of a felony and received a state prison sentence, they will appear in OTIS. Search at mdocweb.state.mi.us/otis2 by name or MDOC number.
OTIS shows a photo, the commitment offense, sentence length, the MDOC facility where the person is currently housed, and parole status. OTIS covers only the state prison system, not county jail inmates. Someone currently held in the Wexford County Jail will not appear in OTIS. But for anyone who received a significant felony sentence originating from a Wexford County arrest, OTIS is the right tool and is entirely free to use.
Michigan Sex Offender Registry in Wexford County
The Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry is free to search at mspsor.com and is governed by MCL 28.721. You can filter results by county to find all registered sex offenders in Wexford County. Results include the registrant's photo, current address, tier level, and the conviction offense that triggered registration. No login or fee is needed.
Offenders are required by Michigan law to keep their registration information current. The Wexford County Sheriff's Office and the Michigan State Police work together to monitor compliance in the county. Wexford County includes the city of Cadillac and surrounding rural areas. The registry covers all parts of the county equally, and you can search by zip code to check a specific area or neighborhood. This is the official state source and is more reliable than any third-party database that aggregates public record data.
The registry is updated regularly as registrants report changes or law enforcement finds violations. Always use the official PSOR tool rather than secondary sites for the most current data.
FOIA Requests for Wexford County Police Records
Michigan's Freedom of Information Act under MCL 15.231 et seq. gives any person the right to inspect and copy public records held by government agencies. For Wexford County, this means arrest reports, incident reports, jail logs, and booking records held by the county sheriff or the Cadillac Police Department are available through a written request.
To submit a FOIA request to the Wexford County Sheriff, write a request that identifies the records you want as clearly as possible. Submit it in person at the sheriff's office in Cadillac, by mail, or through the county's website at wexfordcounty.org. Include the subject's name, the approximate date of the incident, and the nature of the record you are looking for. The five-day response window begins when the agency receives the written request. The agency may charge a fee for copying and staff time, and they must give you an itemized cost estimate before charging anything or doing any work.
For records from Michigan State Police activity in Wexford County, use the MSP FOIA portal at michigan.gov/msp/services/foia. MSP troopers patrol US-131 regularly as it passes through the county. Requests to MSP follow the same procedures and five-day timeline as requests to local agencies. If you are unsure whether the arresting agency was the county sheriff, Cadillac Police, or MSP, submit requests to more than one agency to make sure you get the full set of records.
Michigan Clean Slate Law and Expungement
Michigan's Clean Slate law under MCL 780.621g lets certain people apply to have criminal convictions set aside. A set-aside record is removed from public view in ICHAT. It may still exist in the clerk's files at the courthouse, but the public cannot access it once it has been sealed. This means ICHAT does not always show everything. Older low-level convictions that were set aside will not appear in your search results.
Automatic expungements under Clean Slate began processing in April 2023. These covered certain qualifying offenses that met the time and eligibility criteria under the law, without requiring the person to file a petition. Other convictions still require a formal petition to the circuit court. In Wexford County, those petitions go to the 28th Circuit Court in Cadillac. Not all offenses are eligible. Serious violent crimes, major traffic offenses, and most sex crimes cannot be expunged under any circumstances.
If you search ICHAT for someone and find no record, it does not necessarily mean they have no criminal history. Records could have been set aside. The 28th Circuit Court clerk can tell you whether a petition was granted in a specific case, though the sealed record itself is not available to the public. People seeking to have their own Wexford County records set aside can contact the circuit court clerk for information on the petition forms and filing fees required to start the process.
Nearby Counties
Wexford County is surrounded by other northern Michigan counties, each with their own sheriff and circuit court systems.