Charlton County Background Check

Charlton County background check records are held by the sheriff's office in Folkston and the Georgia Crime Information Center. Charlton County is one of the least populated counties in Georgia, sitting in the far southeast part of the state near the Okefenokee Swamp. Despite its small size, the process for getting a background check here follows the same state rules as every other county. The sheriff's office handles in-person requests, and you can also use Georgia's statewide online tools. This page covers every step of getting a background check in Charlton County and what Georgia law says about who can access criminal history records.

Charlton County Sheriff Record Requests

Sheriff Robert Phillips leads the Charlton County Sheriff's Office. The office is at 1548 Third Street, Folkston, GA 31537. Phone: 912-496-7321. Call before you visit. A county this small may have limited hours for processing background checks, so you want to confirm they can help when you get there. Bring your photo ID. A Georgia driver's license, US passport, or military ID all work for a Charlton County background check request.

The process is straightforward. You fill out a form at the Charlton County Sheriff's Office with your name, date of birth, and other basic information. The staff searches the state criminal history database and prints your results. Fees range from $15 to $20 in Charlton County. Cash is your safest bet. Small offices like this one may not have card readers, so plan accordingly. Processing time depends on how busy the office is. In a county this small, wait times tend to be shorter than in larger metro areas.

The Charlton County Sheriff's Office is also where you go if someone else has given you written consent to check their background. You bring the signed GCIC consent form along with your ID and the fee.

Charlton County Background Check Online

Online tools make it possible to search criminal records tied to Charlton County without driving to Folkston. The Georgia Felon Search is the fastest option. You enter the person's name, date of birth, race, and sex. Pay $15. Get results by email in minutes. Only felony convictions show up. Misdemeanors, arrest-only records, and first offender cases are excluded.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation website links to all statewide tools for Charlton County residents.

Start at the GBI site to find links to the GCIC, Felon Search, and GAPS fingerprint services available to people in Charlton County.

For fingerprint-based background checks, the GAPS system through IdentoGO is the way to go. Register online, find the nearest fingerprinting site to Charlton County, and get printed. Results come back in 24 to 48 hours. The closest IdentoGO locations to Charlton County may be in Waycross or Jacksonville. This method gives a more accurate result than name-based searches because it matches prints directly to records in the GCIC system.

Note: Charlton County borders Florida, but a Georgia background check only covers Georgia state records.

Charlton County Background Check Laws

Georgia law applies to all background checks in Charlton County. Under O.C.G.A. § 35-3-34, the GBI can release criminal history data to private persons under specific conditions. You need written consent on a GCIC form to get another person's full record in Charlton County. That form requires their name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. Without consent, only felony conviction data is publicly available through the Felon Search. The law caps the fee at $20 per person for any single background check in Georgia.

Record restriction under O.C.G.A. § 35-3-37 means some Charlton County records disappear from standard background checks over time. Misdemeanor arrests not prosecuted restrict after two years. Felony arrests that were not taken to court restrict after four years. Violent felony arrests take seven years. After restriction, only judges and law enforcement in Charlton County or elsewhere can see those records. You can also petition to restrict up to two misdemeanor convictions if you have finished your sentence and stayed clean for four years.

GCIC and Charlton County Criminal Data

The Georgia Crime Information Center stores all criminal history data from Charlton County. Arrests, court rulings, and conviction details all feed into GCIC. The Waycross Judicial Circuit handles court cases from Charlton County, and those dispositions go into the same database. Any background check run in Charlton County pulls from this centralized pool of records.

To fix errors on a Charlton County background check, contact the agency that entered the wrong data. They must submit a correction to GCIC on official letterhead. Include your full name, date of birth, Social Security number, race, sex, and arrest date. GCIC has 60 days to respond. If they deny it, you can ask a court to review the matter.

Georgia's First Offender Act under O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60 affects some Charlton County background checks. A first-time offender who completes all conditions of probation under this act gets the case sealed. It vanishes from standard checks. Only courts and law enforcement retain access to the sealed record.

The Georgia Sheriffs' Association has a directory that lists every sheriff in the state including the Charlton County Sheriff's Office.

Counties Near Charlton County

Charlton County shares borders with several other counties in the southeast corner of Georgia. Any of these neighboring sheriff offices can process a background check for you since the data all comes from the same state system.