A Richland 1 board candidate faced an assault charge in 2018. Here’s what we know

A candidate for Richland 1 school board was charged with third-degree assault last year, documents show.

Johnny Ray Noble, 44, a pastor at Second Nazareth Baptist Church, allegedly pushed a woman in September 2018, according to a police report. The report describes that woman as Noble’s girlfriend, but Noble told The State she was not his girlfriend.

Instead of fighting the case, Noble pleaded “no contest” to a disorderly conduct charge in March 2019. In lieu of jail, he was sentenced to intervention with the Domestic Abuse Center, court records show.

Noble has maintained his innocence in the case, and said he pleaded “no contest” because it was in the best interest of everyone involved to move on from the case, he said.

“I will not take responsibility for something that is totally unfounded,” Noble said.

Though Noble disputed facts in the police report, he did not provide to The State his own narrative or timeline of what happened that day.

Noble is running against four other candidates for the open at-large seat on the Richland 1 school board. The election, called after former board member Darrell Black resigned, will be held on New Year’s Eve.

The allegation

On Sept. 23, 2018, the woman described as Noble’s girlfriend (she’s also listed as the victim) had been searching for him and rang the doorbell at a house on Northview Road in Lexington County. Another woman, who is listed as a witness, opened the door and the victim could see Noble inside, according to a report from Lexington County Sheriff’s Department. The names of both women are redacted in the report.

“You just got busted,” the victim said to him, according to the report. “You told me you did not know this girl.”

Noble told The State he was just sitting down and having a conversation with the witness when this happened. Noble would not say what his relationship to the victim was nor why he was at that house, which was not his.

The victim got in her car and left the house, returning about 10 minutes later, the witness told police. When she returned, Noble and the other woman, the witness, were talking in front of the residence.

At this point, details given by the victim and the witness diverge.

The victim alleges Noble became upset during the discussion and “picked up (the victim) and threw her to the ground,” according to the police report. “Johnny began to approach her again to kick her, but (the witness) pushed him away.”

The victim alleges Noble chased her around her vehicle when she tried to leave and so she threw her shoes at him, the report says. The witness pulled Noble away, and the victim left to call the police, according to the police report.

Noble dismissed the victim’s version of the story as a “false accusation” and “an aggressive attack against me,” he told The State.

The witness’ story is different from the victim’s story.

The witness said when the victim returned, she was yelling and cursing at Noble and the witness, exited the car and walked toward them. Noble put himself in between the two women and told the victim to leave. He then pushed the victim, the witness told police.

Noble told The State he did not push the victim.

The victim then threw her shoes as the witness pulled Noble back into the residence, the witness told police.

When police spoke to the victim, they found she had unspecified “injuries” that were photographed and submitted to evidence. Her phone was also broken, something she said happened when Noble assaulted her.

When asked about the victim’s injuries, Noble told The State he did not know how she got them.