Paroled Molester Arrested; Seen Near Schools, Parks

A convicted child molester, who was on parole for kidnaping and child molestation, was arrested this month after Torrance police spotted him watching children at several schools and parks throughout the South Bay and Long Beach.

Joseph Wells Noble, 32, who has been in and out of prison since 1975 for a variety of sex crimes, was arrested on Feb. 8 because he violated his parole by driving near an area where children congregate, Torrance Police Sgt. Paul Besse said.

Noble has been arrested several times while on parole and returned to prison for either being near schools and parks or for failing to meet with his parole officers, according to law-enforcement officials.

Besse, who described Noble as a dangerous and violent man, said a team of officers was assigned to trail Noble after he was paroled to Torrance on Jan. 27. Besse declined to identify the parks and schools where Noble was spotted.

When he was arrested, Noble was on parole from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, where he was serving a six-year, two-month term for six counts of child molestation and two counts of kidnaping, according to parole authorities.

Noble is being held at the Los Angeles County Jail, where he awaits a parole revocation hearing to determine whether he violated parole and whether more prison time should be added to his sentence, said Dave Lytle, supervisor of the state parole office in Gardena.

Unless parole officials add more time to Noble’s sentence for violating his parole, his sentence will run out on June 15, 1991.

The following is a chronology of Noble’s arrests and convictions provided by parole officials and prison authorities:

* Noble’s first run-in with the law was in August, 1975, when he was arrested by Redondo Beach police and charged with indecent exposure and possession of a switch-blade knife. Noble was arrested again a week later by Torrance police and was charged with indecent exposure. He was convicted in both cases and placed on probation for two years.

* In 1978, Redondo Beach police arrested Noble and charged him with assault to intent to commit rape. He was convicted and sentenced to six years and four months in prison.

* In 1981, two years were added to his sentence after he escaped from Patton State Hospital, a facility for the criminally insane in San Bernardino County.

* Noble was paroled in 1983, but the next year he was arrested by Hawthorne police and sentenced to six years and two months in prison on the molestation and kidnaping charges.

* Since June, 1987, Noble has been paroled and returned to prison three times after being arrested for being near schools and parks or for failing to meet with his parole officers.

In August, 1988, when Noble was paroled to Hawthorne, parents and school officials sent out hundreds of fliers throughout the community, warning residents to watch out for Noble, a Hawthorne police spokesman said. The fliers included Noble’s address and photo.

Six months later, in February, deputies from the Lomita Sheriff’s Station arrested Noble after they spotted him near an elementary school.