Expungements/Record Restrictions
Expungements
Expungement refers to the purging of criminal history records. O.C.G.A. §35‐3‐37(d) provides for the expungement of certain criminal history records when approved by the prosecuting attorney. GCIC cannot expunge a criminal history record without the approval of the prosecuting attorney.
For any requests/applications received by the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office, as of August 1, 2009, GCIC will require a fee of $25.00 from the applicant to process the Request for Expungement (“Request Form”) approved by the prosecuting attorney. Each Request Form may contain ONE (1) Date of Arrest (there may be single or multiple charges for the date of arrest). The $25.00 fee (money order or certified check payable to “Georgia Bureau of Investigation”) must be attached to the Request Form. GCIC requires the fee submission once the request is approved by the prosecutor and submitted to GCIC.
As authorized under O.C.G.A. §35-3-37(d)(1)(B), the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office requires payment of a $25.00 non-refundable fee to process an expungement request. Completed paperwork and the non-refundable processing fee must be submitted to CJIS Compliance Specialist Ashley Dean. The processing fee must be paid via certified check or money order made payable to the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office.
If the completed Request Form is sent to GCIC without the fee, the Request Form will be returned to the applicant.
GCIC will not issue refunds when applications are not approved by the prosecutor.
Requests for Expungement that have missing data will not be processed until all required data is received, and the fee will not be refunded due to missing data.
The applicant will complete Section One of the Request for Expungement and forward the three-page Request for Expungement to the arresting agency. The Request for Expungement Form can be downloaded below.
The Dawson County Sheriff’s Office will complete Section Two of the Request for Expungement and forward the three-page Request for Expungement to the prosecutor for approval.
The prosecutor will approve or deny the request and return the form to the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office.
The Clerk of Court will not expunge a charge if the applicant was found guilty, served a sentence (such as incarceration time or probation), or paid fines/fees. The decision to expunge specific charges (such as nolle prossed, dismissed, not guilty, etc.,) is at the sole discretion of District Attorney Lee Darragh. Once a request decision is finalized, the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office will notify the applicant in writing. If the expungement request is approved by the prosecutor, the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office will return the approved Request Form to the applicant, who will be responsible for forwarding the approved Request Form and $25.00 fee to GCIC.
If the approved Request Form is received by GCIC without payment, the request will be rejected and returned to the applicant.
The applicant will mail the approved Request for Expungement Form and $25.00 fee (money order or certified check payable to “Georgia Bureau of Investigation”) to:
Georgia Crime Information Center
Expungements
P.O. Box 370808
Decatur, Georgia 30037-0808
Requests for expungement may be paid in person to GCIC between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, except designated state holidays. GCIC is located at:
3121 Panthersville Road
Decatur, Georgia 30034
To check the status of your request, contact the GCIC CCH/Identification Services at (404) 270-8396.
The requestor will be responsible for obtaining application disposition from the Clerk of Court. To contact the Clerk of Court, please call (706) 344-3510
For all other inquires, contact CJIS Compliance Specialist Ashley Dean at (706) 344-3535 or email Ashley at adean@dawsoncountysheriff.org
