Armstrong County Warrant List
The most visible public Armstrong County warrant source is the Armstrong County District Attorney CRIMEWATCH warrant list. The District Attorney's Office uses that channel for public warrant notices, especially bench warrants and failure-to-appear posts tied to pending criminal or summary matters. The list is not a substitute for the issuing court's file, but it is the local source most directly built around active public warrant notices.
CRIMEWATCH warrant posts may show a name, charge headline, image when supplied, and a short narrative that the person is sought for failure to appear in court. The captured Armstrong County examples included controlled-substance charges, false identification to law enforcement, simple assault, DUI, careless driving, fleeing or attempting to elude police, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving while DUI suspended. These examples show why a warrant lookup should also check the court docket. The warrant notice names a public issue, but the docket explains the case stage, charge table, hearing history, bail action, and whether a bench warrant later was served or lifted.
The Armstrong County CRIMEWATCH landing page is the source page for local law-enforcement notices used by the District Attorney's Office. It is useful when the warrant list is not enough by itself, because arrest notices and agency posts may describe the later event that changed warrant status.
The Armstrong County CRIMEWATCH landing page shows how public law-enforcement notices are organized for Armstrong County.
Use the landing page as a directory, then move into the District Attorney warrant or arrest sections for warrant-specific records.
Armstrong County Warrant Arrests
Armstrong County arrest notices are a second CRIMEWATCH channel. The District Attorney arrest page can show warrant type, issue date, arrest date, charges, arresting agency, and a short narrative. That matters because a person may appear on an older warrant notice even though a later arrest post or docket entry shows service, release, or a new hearing date. The arrest page is also useful when a reader has charge details but does not know the docket number.
CRIMEWATCH arrest records are still public notices, not the full criminal case file. For the complete case status, use the Armstrong County criminal court records pathway through UJS and the Clerk of Courts. If the question is whether a person is currently housed in the local jail after a warrant arrest, the custody side belongs with Armstrong County inmate records, not the court warrant notice.
The District Attorney arrest page is the official local source for public arrest posts that may reference active or served warrants.
An arrest notice can explain whether a bench warrant led to custody, but the court docket remains the place to confirm the next hearing and case status.
Check Armstrong County Warrant Dockets
Many Armstrong County warrant issues are tied to public docket activity in the Pennsylvania UJS Case Search portal. UJS covers public criminal Court of Common Pleas docket sheets and Magisterial District Court docket sheets. A docket can show a bench warrant event, failure to appear, bail change, preliminary hearing event, warrant served or lifted entry, and later sentencing or payment action. It also gives the docket number that court staff will need if a person calls the Clerk of Courts, an MDJ office, the Sheriff, or counsel.
Choose the court level carefully. Armstrong County Court of Common Pleas is the county-level trial court for felony and misdemeanor criminal matters that have reached Common Pleas. Magisterial District Courts handle preliminary criminal events, summary offenses, traffic citations, and many lower-level failure-to-appear issues. Magisterial District docket numbers begin with MJ, while Common Pleas criminal dockets commonly use a CP-03-CR style. A warrant notice without a docket number may still be matched by participant name, OTN, police incident number, or complaint number when those fields are available.
| Search Channel | Useful Fields | Best Use | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| DA CRIMEWATCH warrants | Name, charge headline, warrant narrative | Public warrant notice and failure-to-appear summary | Limited search fields and not a full docket |
| DA CRIMEWATCH arrests | Name, warrant type, issue date, arrest date, agency | Served-warrant and arrest notice details | Public notices may not show every court event |
| UJS Case Search | Name, docket number, OTN, complaint or police incident number | Bench-warrant events, bail entries, hearings, disposition | Public dockets exclude secure or sealed information |
| Magisterial District Court office | Citation, complaint, docket number, full name | Traffic, summary, preliminary-hearing, and MDJ-level warrant questions | Use the office tied to the citation or municipality |
| Sheriff phone channel | Full name, date of birth when available, docket or court | Official sheriff warrant process questions | Not a public web database in the research |
Note: A public warrant notice can lag behind a court event, so confirm with the issuing court before relying on an old listing.
Armstrong County MDJ Warrants
Armstrong County has four Magisterial District Courts, and those offices matter for warrant checks because traffic citations, summary offenses, preliminary arraignments, preliminary hearings, and lower-court criminal complaints begin there. A missed traffic hearing or summary proceeding may lead to bench-warrant activity at the MDJ level before a reader ever sees a Common Pleas docket. The correct MDJ office is usually the office printed on the citation or court notice, or the district assigned to the municipality where the citation or complaint arose.
The official Armstrong County Magisterial District Judge list identifies each district, judge, address, phone, fax, and covered municipalities. District 33-3-01 is in Ford City, District 33-3-02 is in Kittanning, District 33-3-03 is in Leechburg, and District 33-3-04 is in Rural Valley. Calling the wrong office can slow a warrant check because each MDJ office controls its own docket activity and hearing notices.
| District | Judge | Office | Phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 33-3-01 | Hon. J. Gary Decomo | 206 Fifth Avenue, Ford City, PA 16226 | 724-763-7866 |
| 33-3-02 | Hon. Kenneth Bussard | 128 South Grant Avenue, Kittanning, PA 16201 | 724-543-2313 |
| 33-3-03 | Hon. James Andring | 241 Market Street, Leechburg, PA 15656 | 724-842-3571 |
| 33-3-04 | Hon. Kevin McCausland | 720 Main Street, Rural Valley, PA 16249 | 724-783-6886 |
Armstrong County Warrant Help
The Sheriff's Office is the local phone channel for official sheriff warrant process questions. Armstrong County lists Sheriff Frank Pitzer, the sheriff phone as (724) 548-3265, and fax as (724) 548-3264. The sheriff page describes law-enforcement priorities and administration, but the research did not locate a county-run free online sheriff warrant search. That makes the phone channel important when a CRIMEWATCH post, UJS docket, or MDJ notice does not answer the process question.
The Armstrong County Sheriff page is the county source for Sheriff Frank Pitzer's office and public sheriff information.
The sheriff page should be used for official sheriff contact direction, while case-specific entries still need the court docket or issuing office.
For people facing criminal charges where jail is possible, the Armstrong County Public Defender page gives timing rules that are highly relevant to warrant resolution. The office says applicants should apply as soon as criminal charges are received, or at least four business days before a scheduled hearing. A separate application is required for each new criminal case. Applicants must call after three business days to check eligibility, and the office says it cannot contact the applicant. The Public Defender does not handle civil cases, traffic citations, or most summary citations unless a jail sentence is anticipated.
Important: Confirm the warrant with the issuing court or counsel before appearing, because old public notices may not show later court action.
Armstrong County Warrant Fields
Armstrong County warrant records do not all share the same format. CRIMEWATCH warrant posts are public notice records. CRIMEWATCH arrest posts can add arrest information. UJS dockets show court-event records. Together, those sources create the public picture of a warrant, but none should be treated as a sealed law-enforcement file or a complete sheriff file.
| Field | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Person name | The person identified in the public warrant or arrest notice. |
| Charge headline | The short public charge summary attached to the notice. |
| Warrant type | Often listed as Bench in arrest posts when the source provides the type. |
| Date issued | The warrant issue date when the arrest notice includes it. |
| Failure-to-appear reason | The missed court event or narrative reason when stated in the public notice. |
| Arresting agency | The agency listed on an arrest notice after service or custody. |
| Arrest date | The date tied to the arrest notice, not necessarily the original warrant date. |
| Image or photo | A public image where CRIMEWATCH displays one. |
The District Attorney warrant list is the manifest source image for public active-warrant listings in Armstrong County.
The field inventory above matches the kinds of public details that appear in those local warrant and arrest notice channels.
Resolve Armstrong County Warrants
Resolving a warrant starts with confirmation, not assumption. A person should identify the docket number, issuing court, warrant type, charges, and court date missed. If the matter is in a Magisterial District Court, the MDJ office tied to the citation or complaint controls the next local step. If the matter is in the Court of Common Pleas, the UJS docket and Clerk of Courts record help identify the status and hearing history.
- Check the DA CRIMEWATCH warrant and arrest pages for public notice details.
- Search UJS by name, docket number, OTN, or complaint number to read court events.
- Call the issuing MDJ office, Clerk of Courts, Sheriff, or counsel before appearing if the status is unclear.
- Gather the complaint, hearing notice, income documents, support orders, and other papers needed for a Public Defender application if criminal charges and jail risk are involved.
- Confirm that the warrant is cleared through the docket or issuing office after any appearance, arrest, or court order.
The Armstrong County Public Defender page provides the local timing and application rules that affect many active criminal warrant situations.
Those rules are important because waiting until the day of a hearing can leave too little time for eligibility review and case preparation.
Restricted Armstrong County Warrants
Not every warrant-related record is public. Search warrants are not public in the same way as a CRIMEWATCH bench-warrant notice, especially while an investigation is active or a court has sealed the material. Juvenile records are also restricted under Pennsylvania law, and 42 Pa.C.S. § 6307 limits public access to child court files except where access is allowed. The UJS public access policy also controls confidential information and secure docket versions.
Sealed and expunged criminal records have separate access rules. Pennsylvania's 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122 controls expungement eligibility, while the UJS public access policies govern how public court records and confidential filings are handled. If a record is missing from UJS, the cause may be sealing, confidentiality, the wrong court level, or a matter that never produced a public docket entry.
Note: Do not rely on third-party warrant sites for Armstrong County warrant status when official DA, court, MDJ, and sheriff channels exist.