# Do I have access to the text of Federal indictments?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-have-access-to-the-text-of-federal-indictments/755861>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 27, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-have-access-to-the-text-of-federal-indictments/755861 "2016-05-27T23:40:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\
**Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-have-access-to-the-text-of-federal-indictments/755861/1 "2016-05-27T23:40:20Z")

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Google searches don’t generally get me anywhere when I am curious to read the text of an indictment I’ve seen summarized in a news article. I’m wondering whether these indictments are accessible to the public, ideally online, and ideally for free.

Are they?

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-have-access-to-the-text-of-federal-indictments/755861/2 "2016-05-28T02:04:08Z")

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If they’ve been filed, they’re probably available on PACER at [www.pacer.gov](http://www.pacer.gov)

It’s not free, though. You’re charged per page.

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**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\
**Post date:** [May 28, 2016, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-have-access-to-the-text-of-federal-indictments/755861/3 "2016-05-28T05:16:10Z")

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PACER does waive the fees if you spend less than $15/quarter.

Also, the [RECAP](https://www.recapthelaw.org/) project puts a lot of PACER documents online for free.