Fauquier County Sex Offender Registry

Fauquier County residents can search for registered sex offenders through the Virginia State Police public registry, which lists all people required to register in the county under state law. The search is free and open to anyone. This page explains how to search the registry for Fauquier County, what the Sheriff's Office does to enforce compliance locally, and what Virginia's registration statute requires of offenders who live or work in the county.

How to Search Fauquier County Sex Offender Records

The Virginia State Police maintains the official Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry for all 95 Virginia counties. Search at sex-offender.vsp.virginia.gov/sor or use the alternate portal at vspsor.com. Both access the same statewide database. No fee. No login required.

For Fauquier County, enter zip code 20186 for Warrenton. Other county zip codes include 20115 (Marshall), 20119 (Catlett), 20138 (Midland), and 20187 (Vint Hill/Warrenton area). You can also search by name or by street address with a set radius. Each result shows the person's name, current address, photo, date of birth, and the offense that triggered registration. The registry updates each business day. Fauquier County has approximately 80 to 100 registered sex offenders at any given time.

The Sheriff's Office coordinates with the Warrenton Police Department on registry matters. For questions or compliance concerns, call VSP at (804) 674-2825 or email sor.vsp@vsp.virginia.gov.

Fauquier County Sheriff's Office

The Fauquier County Sheriff's Office is at 78 West Lee Street, Warrenton, VA 20186. Phone: (540) 422-8600. Fax: (540) 422-8605. Email: sheriff@fauquiercounty.gov. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM. Sheriff Jeremy Falls heads the office. The official site is at fauquiercounty.gov/government/departments-h-z/sheriff-s-office.

The Sheriff's Office coordinates sex offender registration with the Virginia State Police. Registration services run Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM. New registrations require an appointment. Address updates are accepted during business hours. Quarterly verification is required for Tier III offenders. Annual verification applies to Tier I and Tier II. The Criminal Investigations Division conducts compliance checks. Patrol deputies monitor registered addresses. The Records Division maintains sex offender files.

Fingerprinting services are available at $10.00 per card. Background checks are processed through the Virginia State Police. Virginia State Police Form SP-167 handles criminal history checks. Form SP-266 is for sex offender registry searches. Fees are $15.00 for a criminal history check and $20.00 for a combined check. FOIA requests are accepted in writing. Copy fees are $0.50 per page.

Fauquier County Circuit Court

The Fauquier County Circuit Court is at 29 Ashby Street, Warrenton, VA 20186. Clerk Gail H. Barb can be reached at (540) 422-8100. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

The Circuit Court maintains all felony sex offense records in the county. Sentencing orders include the registration requirement and tier classification. Civil commitment proceedings for sexually violent predators are filed here. Petitions for registry removal after the statutory period of 15 or 25 years are also adjudicated in this court.

Court records are open to the public during business hours. Copy fees are $0.50 per page, $2.00 for certified copies. Online case information is available through the Virginia Judiciary's Case Information System. Protective orders are maintained by the Clerk's Office. Juvenile sex offense cases are sealed under Virginia statute.

Virginia Sex Offender Registration Requirements

Virginia's registration law is in Virginia Code Title 9.1, Chapter 9. Three tiers apply. Tier I: annual registration for 15 years. Tier II: annual registration for 25 years. Tier III: registration every 90 days for life. Tier classification is set at sentencing by the court.

An offender must register within three days of release from incarceration or, if no jail time was ordered, within three days of sentencing. Address changes must be reported within three days. Email and internet username changes must be reported within 30 minutes. These requirements are in the statute at law.justia.com/codes/virginia/title-9-1/chapter-9 and apply in all 95 Virginia counties, including Fauquier.

Failing to register is a Class 1 misdemeanor for Tier I and Tier II. For Tier III, non-compliance is a Class 6 felony. Tier III offenders also face a 500-foot exclusion zone around schools and daycare centers for residence, employment, and loitering.

Note: Fauquier County's location between Northern Virginia's suburbs and more rural areas means the Sheriff's Office monitors both rural addresses and developments near the county's eastern edge.

What the Registry Shows

Every registry entry includes the person's full legal name, current address, date of birth, a current photo, and the offense that required registration. The tier and next check-in date also appear. Some listings show both a home and a work address when employment is at a different location.

Transient offenders without a fixed address appear with a general area or last known address. If an entry looks outdated or incorrect, a required update may not have been filed. That is a compliance violation. Report it to VSP at (804) 674-2825. The Fauquier County Sheriff's Office also conducts periodic address checks as part of its compliance monitoring work.

The National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) lets you search all 50 state registries at once through a single federal portal. It is free and requires no account. Use it when checking someone who may have previously been registered in another state before coming to Fauquier County.

Additional Registry Resources

The alternate Virginia State Police SOR portal at vspsor.com provides the same search capabilities as the main VSP site. Both are maintained by the Virginia State Police and access the same database. The VSP registry unit at (804) 674-2825 handles compliance reporting and registry questions.

The Virginia State Police also maintains a supplement to the main registry for convictions that pre-date the 1994 law that established the current system. Not all pre-1994 offenders are in the primary registry. That supplement is available through the main VSP portal as well.

The Virginia State Police SOR portal provides free public access to Fauquier County sex offender registry data, updated every business day.

Cities in Fauquier County

Fauquier County has no independent cities. Warrenton is the county seat and the main population center. The town of Warrenton and other communities in the county use zip codes in the 20186 and surrounding range for registry searches through the VSP portal.

Nearby Counties

Registry information for counties surrounding Fauquier is available through the same Virginia State Police system.

Registry Use and Public Safety

Virginia law makes sex offender registry information available to the public to help protect communities. You can use the registry to check if an offender lives near your home, school, or workplace. The National Sex Offender Public Website at nsopw.gov also lets you search across all states at once. This is useful when checking on someone who may have moved to Virginia from out of state. The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services at dcjs.virginia.gov has more information about the registry program and community safety resources available to local agencies.

Note: Registry information is for public safety purposes only. Using it to harass or intimidate an offender is prohibited under Virginia law and can result in criminal charges.