Iowa, county records
Find the right office in Des Moines County. Court cases, deeds and parcels, sheriff and jail records, vital records and county filings, each linked to the office that keeps them.
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Every card below goes to the government office responsible for that record. Use the category buttons to narrow the list.
County court
Iowa has two federal trial courts, the Northern District at Cedar Rapids and Sioux City and the Southern District at Des Moines; their case files are searched through PACER.
Open official site Iowa Federal CasesState records
Search property and claim status by individual name or business thru the state treasurer.
Open official site Iowa Unclaimed PropertyVital records
Iowa HHS Vital Records issues certified birth, death and marriage records filed since July 1, 1880, by mail, in person or through VitalChek, for a fee per copy.
Open official site Iowa Death and Vital RecordsState records
Find active and inactive corporations by name from the Iowa Secretary of State.
Open official site Iowa Business & Corporation SearchVital records
Request a copy of a marriage certificates from the Iowa Bureau of Health Statistics.
Open official site Iowa Marriage SearchLocal record guide
County profile
Sheriff & Law Enforcement. Des Moines County Sheriff's Office is responsible for law enforcement in the unincorporated areas of Des Moines County.
Police Departments. Des Moines County is served by multiple law enforcement agencies, including Des Moines County Sheriff's Office and municipal police departments.
Law Enforcement & Arrests. Des Moines County Sheriff's Office, headquartered at 513 N Main Street, Burlington, IA 52601, provides law enforcement services throughout unincorporated areas and contracted services to some municipalities. Des Moines County Correctional Center operates adjacent to the Sheriff's Office and houses inmates for Des Moines County. Arrest records in Des Moines County are considered public records under Iowa Code Chapter 22, the Iowa Public Records Law, which mandates that government records are open to public inspection unless specifically exempted.
Arrest Records. Arrest records in Des Moines County are maintained by Des Moines County Sheriff's Office.
Mugshots & Booking Photos. Mugshots in Des Moines County are taken and retained by Des Moines County Sheriff's Office during the booking process.
Abandoned mine records
Where the workings are, and the office that holds the mine maps.
From the old mine records
The mine records hold 24 mine sites inside the county: 18 past producers, now closed, 5 sites producing when the record was made, 1 processing plant, which is not a working; the old survey maps add 19 holes drawn inside the county, 0 of them shafts or tunnels. The minerals the records name are crushed stone; Limestone, Dimension; Stone, Crushed/Broken; Limestone, Dimension.
A point in either file is a location, not a property line: the sheet shows the opening on the surface, not the rooms under it. The record that shows what runs under a parcel is the mine map. The OSMRE National Mine Map Repository holds scanned underground mine maps and answers requests for a named mine or an area. Coal was mined in Iowa from the 1840s to 1994.
Rows taken off the old survey maps open the USGS record of what sits at that spot, because no single feature on those maps has a page of its own. Rows from the mine records open their own USGS page.
Des Moines County lies on the edge of the Western Region coal field and the coal there is medium and high volatile bituminous, worked underground in many places. The two federal files record a shaft, an adit or a deposit where one was drawn on a survey sheet or catalogued as a site; neither file carries the outline of the workings, so the counts above are not the measure of what was mined under this county. The record that shows it is the mine map, held by Iowa DNR Iowa Coal Mines map and linked below.
Iowa abandoned mine maps ranks every county and town in the state by the workings recorded inside it, names the office that holds the mine maps, and says what to do if the ground moves.
Disclaimer: The mine information here is for general information only. Old mine records can be incomplete, outdated or wrong, and finding nothing here does not mean there is nothing there. Check with the mine map office named here before you rely on it, and have a qualified engineer look at any ground you are worried about. PublicRecordCenter.com assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions, or consequences arising from the use of this information.
Labor Department file
The U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division closed 59 investigations in Des Moines County since fiscal 2005 and recorded $154,094 in back wages agreed for 767 workers. The county is the one the Census Bureau puts each employer's ZIP code in. Snapshot of April 22, 2026; a case here is a finding by the Division, not a court judgment.
| Employer | City | Cases | Back wages | Workers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yarmouth Oil Company, LLC | Yarmouth | 1 | $24,786 | 5 |
| Casa Fiesta, Inc. | Burlington | 1 | $24,149 | 9 |
| S and R Two, Inc. | Burlington | 2 | $20,894 | 4 |
| Shearer's Foods, LLC | Burlington | 1 | $20,424 | 580 |
| Rafiki Hotels | Burlington | 2 | $6,515 | 14 |
| Alfagomma America, Inc. | Burlington | 1 | $6,399 | 3 |
| Historic Tama LLC | Burlington | 1 | $5,048 | 25 |
| Brandt Construction Co | Middletown | 1 | $4,931 | 4 |
| Adam Fisher LLC | Burlington | 1 | $4,615 | 3 |
| Standard of Beaverdale, Inc. | West Burlington | 1 | $3,726 | 17 |
| El Patron, LLC | Burlington | 1 | $3,276 | 12 |
| Doug Woodsmall | West Burlington | 1 | $3,202 | 17 |
| Riviera Walker Inc. | Burlington | 2 | $2,956 | 4 |
| Rheinschmidt's Flooring America | Burlington | 1 | $2,632 | 4 |
| Gator's Inc. | Burlington | 1 | $1,506 | 1 |
| Wake N Bake Breakfast CO., LLC | Burlington | 1 | $1,379 | 8 |
| Casa Fiesta Mexican Restaurant Inc. | Burlington | 1 | $1,344 | 7 |
| S. G. Construction Co. | Burlington | 1 | $1,333 | 1 |
| Pleasant Hotel, Inc. | Burlington | 1 | $1,156 | 2 |
| Lakewood Funeral Home, L.L.C. | Burlington | 2 | $865 | 3 |
| Party City Corporation | West Burlington | 1 | $811 | 2 |
| Nurse At HOME, L.L.C. | Burlington | 1 | $377 | 1 |
| Yong's Pacific Rim | Burlington | 1 | $349 | 1 |
| J2 Enterprises, Inc. | Burlington | 1 | $347 | 1 |
| Hawkeye Hospitality | Burlington | 1 | $200 | 0 |
The 25 employers with the most back wages agreed, of 51 on the Des Moines County record; 9 employers have a page of their own and open from the table, the rest show their whole record here. The 26 more with smaller records are on the Iowa wage theft records page, whose search answers for every employer in the state.
Straight answers
Open only the answer you need.
Booking photos are kept by the agency that made the arrest, such as the Des Moines County Sheriff or a city police department in Des Moines County. Ask that agency for its record.
The Iowa criminal history record comes from the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Division of Criminal Investigation. Name based request by mail, fax, email or in person with first name, last name and exact date of birth; the online request site is down for an upgrade and phone requests are not taken. Fee: $15 per last name.
Search the Iowa Sex Offender Registry, or every state at once on the National Sex Offender Public Website run by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Register with the county auditor or through the Iowa Secretary of State. You can also register online with the state online registration. Pre registration closes 15 days before the election; you may also register and vote on election day at the polling place for your address with proof of identity and residence.
Deeds and other recorded land documents in Des Moines County are kept by the Des Moines County recorder. Property values are set by the local assessor, and tax bills come from the county treasurer. Source: official state page.
Certified birth and death certificates for Iowa come from the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Statistics. County Recorders can issue certified copies of all Iowa births from 1986 to the present and of deaths and marriages from 1954 to the present; earlier records come from the county where the event occurred. By mail or in person at Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Bureau of Health Statistics, Lucas State Office Building, 1st Floor, 321 E. 12th Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0075, at a County Recorder, or online through VitalChek, the only authorized third party vendor. Fee: $20.00 for each certified copy.
Business entity filings are searched with the Iowa Secretary of State. Iowa does not have a general business license; licensing depends on the nature of the business or occupation.
Same county
Use the city page when a record was created by a municipal police department or city office; use the county page for courts, deeds, vital records and jail custody.