Convicted Molester Guilty of Indecent Exposure

A Hawthorne man who had been the target of a massive surveillance effort by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department this summer was convicted Friday of felony indecent exposure.

Long Beach Superior Court jurors deliberated less than three hours before convicting Joseph Wells Noble, 34, on two counts of exposing himself, once in an alley behind a Long Beach apartment building and again in a car in front of a Studio City elementary school. Noble has been in and out of prison since 1978 for convictions on two charges of molestation and one of indecent exposure. Law enforcement authorities considered him such a threat to public safety that when he was last paroled in April, sheriff’s deputies and South Bay police officers joined forces to keep him under dawn-to-dusk watch.

As a result of their surveillance efforts Noble was arrested in late May after a deputy reported seeing him masturbate next to a playground. Although indecent exposure is usually considered a misdemeanor, the charges were filed as felonies because of Noble’s previous convictions. He could face nearly seven years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 2. Deputy Public Defender Steve McManus said he will appeal.