Sheriff

The Lincoln County Sheriff is charged with enforcing all criminal laws of the State of West Virginia, including all felonies and misdemeanors. Felonies are crimes that are punishable by imprisonment for at least one year in the West Virginia State Penitentiary, in addition to possible monetary fines. Misdemeanors are crimes that are punishable by incarceration in a Regional Jail for up to one year, plus possible monetary fines.

The Sheriff and his Deputies are authorized to arrest individuals that they believe have committed a crime. Crimes may be of a violent or a non-violent nature and may be against persons, property, the state, or against other societal norms.

When the Sheriff’s department believes that an individual or a company has committed a crime in Lincoln County, whether because of personally witnessing that crime or upon information from a witness, the Sheriff’s Department begins a criminal investigation. This investigation would include securing the crime scene and obtaining evidence from all possible witnesses and gathering other types of evidence from the crime scene itself.

A criminal investigation may include questioning possible witnesses, surveillance, obtaining physical evidence and following other generally accepted methods of solving a crime.

The Lincoln County Sheriff is also charged with collecting all property taxes assessed on real and personal property. The Lincoln County Assessor prepares the Land Book and Personal Property Book each year by appraising the value of real and personal property of all Lincoln County residents. The Assessor also determines the value on each piece of property. The Assessor then sends the Land Book and the Personal Property Book to the Sheriff. The Sheriff notifies all taxpayers of the amounts of taxes owed for all properties in Lincoln County. The Sheriff is responsible for collecting all such property taxes.