Find Cheboygan County Recent Bookings
Cheboygan County recent bookings are processed at the county jail on South Main Street. This northern Lower Peninsula county has about 26,000 residents and a jail with 103 beds. The sheriff's office tracks all arrests and intake records for the area. There is no online search portal for Cheboygan County bookings, so a phone call or FOIA request is how you get the information you need. This page explains the full process for searching recent bookings in Cheboygan County, from a quick phone check to a formal records request.
Cheboygan County Overview
Cheboygan County Sheriff's Office and Jail
The Cheboygan County jail is at 870 South Main Street in Cheboygan. It has 103 beds. Brenda Beckwith serves as jail administrator. You can reach her at bbeckwith@cheboygancounty.net. The main phone number is 231-627-3155 and the fax is 231-627-8880.
Every arrest in Cheboygan County results in a booking at this facility. The booking process creates a record with the person's name, date of birth, charges, arresting agency, bond amount, and intake time. These records are kept by the sheriff's office. Under Michigan law, most of this information is public and can be shared upon request.
Cheboygan County also offers video visitation for inmates. On-site visiting hours run 8am to 4pm, seven days a week. Remote video visits are available from 7am to 11pm daily. You must schedule 24 hours ahead through videovisit.ncic.com. For help with the system, call NCIC at 1-800-943-2189.
| Address | 870 South Main Street, Cheboygan, MI 49721 |
|---|---|
| Phone | 231-627-3155 |
| Fax | 231-627-8880 |
| Jail Admin | Brenda Beckwith (bbeckwith@cheboygancounty.net) |
| Capacity | 103 beds |
How to Search Cheboygan County Bookings
Call 231-627-3155 to check on a recent booking. Give them the full name and date of birth. Staff can confirm custody status, charges, and bond. This is free and takes a few minutes. The jail phone is your best option for real-time data. If you get no answer, try again during regular business hours.
For criminal history beyond the jail, use the Michigan ICHAT system. It costs $10 per search. You enter a name and date of birth. ICHAT returns felony convictions and serious misdemeanors from all 83 counties. It does not show current bookings or pending charges. If you need to know if someone went to state prison after a Cheboygan County case, the MDOC OTIS search is free and covers inmates, parolees, and probationers statewide.
You can also use VINELink to track custody changes in Cheboygan County. Register with a person's name and the system sends you alerts by phone, text, or email when something changes. This is free and works around the clock.
Cheboygan County FOIA Requests
You can request Cheboygan County booking records under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act. MCL 15.231 covers this. The law requires public bodies to provide records within five business days, with a possible ten-day extension for complex requests.
Mail your FOIA request to the Cheboygan County Sheriff's Office at 870 S. Main St., Cheboygan, MI 49721. Include your name, address, phone number, and a detailed description of the records you need. Specify dates and names. Fees for paper copies typically range from $0.07 to $0.25 per page in Michigan. Search and retrieval labor is billed in 15-minute increments. If you are indigent, you may qualify for a fee waiver on the first $20.
Certain records are exempt under MCL 15.243. Medical and mental health data from the booking process is not public. Information that could compromise jail security or interfere with an ongoing investigation can also be withheld. But the basic facts of a booking, the name, charges, date, and bond, are nearly always available to anyone who asks.
Note: Mugshots from Cheboygan County bookings are considered public records under Michigan case law.
State Tools for Cheboygan County Searches
Michigan runs several databases that cover records from Cheboygan County. The MDOC Offender Tracking Information System lets you search for state prison inmates by name or MDOC number. Visit the OTIS portal for free access.
VINELink, shown above, lets you register for custody alerts tied to a specific person in any Michigan county. The Michigan State Police also run the Statewide Records Management System, which connects law enforcement agencies across the state. Under MCL 28.243, criminal history record fees and procedures are set at the state level, ensuring consistent access rules no matter which county you are dealing with. For court records specifically, MCL 600.880 outlines who can access what and how.
Michigan's Clean Slate law took effect in April 2023. It allows automatic expungement of certain older convictions. Misdemeanors can be cleared after seven years. Felonies after ten. This affects data in systems like ICHAT but does not change current booking records at the Cheboygan County jail. If you are running a search and a record seems missing, expungement may be the reason. MCL 750.491 governs records retention and sets rules for how long agencies must keep public records on file. The Cheboygan County Sheriff's Office follows these state guidelines.
Cities in Cheboygan County
Cheboygan County includes the city of Cheboygan and several smaller communities like Indian River and Wolverine. All local arrests are booked through the county jail. None of the cities in Cheboygan County have their own pages on this site.
Nearby Counties
These counties border Cheboygan County in northern Michigan. Someone arrested near a county line could end up booked in any of these jails instead of the Cheboygan County facility.