Criminal Cases in Glades County Courts
Florida Circuit Courts hear felony prosecutions. Glades County belongs to the Twentieth Judicial Circuit, and its Circuit Criminal division keeps felony dockets and related post-judgment filings. Glades County Court handles misdemeanors and criminal traffic. Both record sets are maintained by the Glades Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller at 500 Avenue J in Moore Haven.
The case number and division matter because they route a request to the right file. Juvenile delinquency also passes through the clerk, but those records are generally confidential. There is no separate Moore Haven criminal court archive. Fine-only local ordinance questions should be confirmed with the city and clerk rather than sent to an assumed municipal portal.
Glades Circuit Felonies Versus Misdemeanors
The filed charge controls the court level. A felony information or indictment belongs in Circuit Court. A misdemeanor complaint and criminal traffic case belong in County Court. Booking labels are preliminary and may change after the State Attorney reviews the evidence.
| Glades court | Typical record | Contact |
|---|---|---|
| Twentieth Circuit Criminal | Felonies and post-judgment filings | (863) 946-6010 |
| Glades County Criminal | Misdemeanors and criminal traffic | (863) 946-6012 |
| Juvenile division | Confidential delinquency files | (863) 946-6010 |
The shared courthouse makes access simpler, but it does not merge the legal divisions. State Attorney charging documents show which allegations actually reached court.
How to Search Case Records
Use the clerk's Search Court Records link first. The current application was not reliable enough in research to verify every dropdown, so no unconfirmed filter is presented as fact. A specific counter or mail request is the dependable fallback.
- Choose the criminal court search and try the exact case number when known.
- Otherwise search the party name, including middle name, suffix, former name, and spelling variants.
- Confirm whether the result is Circuit felony or County misdemeanor or criminal traffic.
- Read every count, docket event, and charge-specific disposition rather than only the case status.
- Ask the clerk for the docket, selected documents, or a certified disposition when the online view is incomplete.
| Search input | Use | Verification note | Fallback |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case number | Direct file match | Best bridge from SmartWEB | Clerk name/case search |
| Party name | Candidate cases | Try spelling variants | Provide an approximate year |
| Filing year | Narrow results | Confirm live availability | Written request |
| Court division | Separate felony/misdemeanor | Do not infer from arrest label | Ask clerk staff |
Glades Clerk Copy Fees
The Glades felony records page states a three-part fee schedule: $2 for a name or case search, $1 per page, and $2 for certification. Certification authenticates the clerk's copy in that case. It does not turn a county disposition into an FDLE statewide report.
The source page below shows the local fee and request directions.
For mail orders, first confirm the page count, then send a check payable to Glades Clerk and a self-addressed stamped envelope. Do not mail cash. The stated mail processing time is seven to ten working days.
| Service | Amount |
|---|---|
| Name or case search | $2 |
| Copy | $1 per page |
| Certification | $2 |
What the Case File Shows
A Glades County criminal case file follows the prosecution rather than the jail stay. Its strongest proof is usually the charge-by-charge judgment or disposition, read with the charging document and docket.
| Case number and court | Identifies the Circuit or County division, case type, filing date, and status. |
|---|---|
| Charging document | Shows the information, indictment, or complaint and counts filed by the prosecutor. |
| Docket entries | Lists motions, notices, pleas, hearings, judgments, and later filings by event date. |
| Hearings | May show a public date, time, courtroom, and judicial officer. |
| Disposition and judgment | States the result for each count, such as dismissal, acquittal, withhold, or adjudication guilty. |
| Sentence and finances | May show custody, supervision, fines, costs, restitution, and balances. |
Protected victim or minor data, Social Security and account numbers, sealed filings, and confidential cases are withheld or redacted. A public docket can therefore coexist with a protected document.
Read Each Glades Charge Outcome
One case may contain several counts with different results. “Nolle prosequi” means the prosecutor declined to continue that count. A dismissal is not a conviction. An acquittal is a not-guilty result after trial. A withhold of adjudication is neither a dismissal nor an acquittal, while adjudication guilty is a conviction.
- Information
- The State Attorney's formal felony charging document.
- Arraignment
- The hearing at which the accused is advised of filed charges and enters a plea.
- Disposition
- The result of a specific charge.
- Withhold
- A finding in which the court withholds formal adjudication of guilt.
Compare each SmartWEB charge with the later information and disposition. An agency charge row and a court-numbered row do not, by themselves, prove two convictions.
Note: A case-level status can hide different outcomes across individual counts.
Stages of a Criminal Case
A Glades prosecution starts with an arrest or notice to appear, then moves through first appearance and prosecutor review. The State Attorney may file an information, change the allegations, or decline prosecution. Arraignment follows the filed charge, with discovery and motions before a plea or trial.
Case flow: Charges Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial › Plea or Trial › Disposition › Sentencing
Appeal and postconviction filings can add later docket events. This chronology is why a booking result should never stand in for the final Glades County court record. The Glades County arrest history supplies custody context, while the clerk file resolves prosecution.
When Glades Files Are Off-Site
The clerk warns that inactive files may be stored off-site and can take an extra day or more to retrieve. Call before traveling when the case is old or absent from the online view. Give staff the exact case number if possible, or a full name plus approximate filing year and court level.
The Glades Clerk access page illustrates the difference between online inspection and records held by the office.
An empty result means “not located online,” not “no case exists.” A specific written request under Florida court rules is the sound next step.
Request only what answers the question. A docket sheet gives the event chronology, but it may not contain the words of a motion or judgment. A certified disposition proves the result of the Glades County charge. Copies of the information, plea, judgment, and sentence provide more context when the outcome is hard to read. Asking for those named records helps the clerk identify existing documents and estimate copy charges. It also avoids mistaking the separate Official Records index, which covers recorded instruments, for the criminal court case system.
Access & Restrictions
Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.420 governs public access and confidentiality in judicial records. The clerk requires a sufficiently specific written request when the online system does not expose a document. Florida Statutes Chapter 119 governs executive-agency public records, but judicial records follow the court rule.
Ask for an existing record, such as the docket or judgment, rather than asking staff to explain why a ruling occurred. For a missing disposition on one's own Florida repository history, use FDLE Personal Review after obtaining the certified Glades disposition.
Federal Cases Outside Glades Court
A federal prosecution tied to Glades County will not appear in the county clerk file. Glades lies in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. PACER holds federal dockets and requires registration.
The federal search source below is separate from county criminal court records.
Use the Middle District of Florida to confirm the assigned division rather than assuming a Moore Haven federal courthouse.
PACER answers the federal case question. It does not search Glades bookings or Florida state-court dockets.