Noone is GOP choice for Chesco D.A. run
WEST CHESTER >> Prosecutor Michael Noone, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office second-incommand, is expected to be named this week as the Republican Party’s replacement candidate for the district attorney position on the November ballot.
Chester County Republican Committee Chairman Rick Loughery said on Friday that the committee would meet Tuesday at West Chester University and nominate Noone to take the ballot slot formerly held by current District Attorney Tom Hogan, who withdrew from the race unexpectedly last month.
The party’s executive committee interviewed Noone on Thursday and appeared ready to recommend him to the whole committee, the chairman said. Noone was the only candidate to submit his or her name for consideration.
“Mike is well-qualified, having served as Chester County’s First Assistant District Attorney for the past eight years,” Loughery wrote in an email. “He has been a leader in combating the opioid crisis across our county and his support from local law enforcement runs deep. I’m excited for Mike Noone to join our talented team of countywide candidates.”
Noone had earlier won the recommendation of Hogan, his boss in the D.A.’s Office, and was widely expected to win the party’s endorsement. If approved as the candidate, Noone’s name would be forwarded to the county’s Office of Voter Services for positioning on the ballot for the general election on Nov. 5. He would then face Democratic candidate Deborah Ryan, his former colleague in the D.A.’s Office.
“Throughout my career as a prosecutor in Chester County I have fought to bring justice to victims of crime,” Noone said in a statement to the Daily Local News. “My experience includes homicides, child abuse cases, drug investigations, white-collar crimes, sexual assaults, elder abuse cases, public corruption cases, and more.”
He also cited his work in the community as part of his qualifications for the top prosecutor’s job. He is the co-chairman of the county’s Overdose Prevention Task Force and member of the executive committee of the it’s Elder Abuse Task Force.
“Prosecuting criminals is only part of the experience I bring to the Office of District Attorney,” he stated. “I have also worked side-by-side with Chester County residents of every walk of life to combat the opioid epidemic, make our schools safer, fight sexual assault, expand our diversionary programs for those struggling with addiction and mental health, protect senior citizens, ensure the integrity of the criminal justice system, and to prevent crime.”
On July 3, Hogan stunned the county’s political world by announcing that he would not seek a third term, after having run unopposed and won the Republican nomination in the May primary. Hogan said he had accomplished much in the years since he took office in 2011, and wanted to devote more time to his family. He has not, however, stepped aside and continues to serve in the position, despite now carrying the tag of a lame duck.
Hogan’s decision to quit the race left the party at a disadvantage, facing a strong candidacy from Ryan, the former deputy district attorney who oversaw the office’s Child Abuse Unit, and a rising surge of support for county Democratic candidates. Noone will now have to scramble to put together a campaign team, raise funds, and, perhaps most importantly, introduce himself to voters — things that Ryan has spent the past eight months doing.
Noone, 44, of West Chester was raised in West Pittston, Luzerne County, and graduated from Wilkes University, where he was class valedictorian. He earned his law degree from the Villanova University School of Law in 2000 and began working as a prosecutor with the county DA’s Office in 2003. He left the office in 2007 and worked as a private criminal defense attorney with the West Chester law firm of Donatoni & Noone, then returned to take over as First Assistant in 2012 after Hogan was elected.
In addition to supervising the office of 100 prosecutors, county detectives, and support staff, Noone has also maintained a courtroom presence for a number of cases. In 2018, he led the prosecution of a West Point cadet from Gettysburg, Tyler Lampe, who was accused of sexually assaulting a West Chester University student in her home after a night of drinking. He won a conviction for rape of an unconscious person and related charges, and saw Lampe sentenced to three to six years in state prison.
He also supervised the prosecution of three people involved in the 2014 murder of 3-year-old Scott “Scotty” McMillan, the young child beaten and tortured by his mother and her boyfriend in a home in West Fallowfield. The boyfriend, Gary Lee Fellenbuam, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges and was sentenced to life in prison in 2017 after Noone and Hogan made the decision not to seek the death penalty against him in exchange for the plea.
“It is this record as a proven prosecutor that I bring to this campaign,” None said on Friday. The D.A.’s Office “has long been recognized as one of Pennsylvania’s best because of the smart and hard-working prosecutors, detectives, and staff who hold themselves to the highest ethical standards in the pursuit of justice. As District Attorney, I will make certain we continue this important work to protect the safety of Chester County.”
Coincidentally, Ryan was also part of the prosecution team in the McMillan case before she left the DA’s Office in 2017, working side by side with Noone while she supervised the Child Abuse Unit.
On Saturday, Ryan said she was prepared to face whoever the county GOP decided to name as Hogan’s replacement.
“Over the last eight years, we have had the highest increase in child abuse allegations in our county’s history, an alarming opioid epidemic, and an increase in gun violence,” she said in a campaign statement sent to the Daily Local. “We must do better. As an experienced prosecutor, I have been tough on the worst criminals. I secured the longest sentence in Chester County’s history for a serial child molester and have successfully prosecuted thousands of cases, including homicides, sexual assaults, child abuse, rape, burglaries, and high-level drug trafficking.”
Since securing the Democratic nomination in May, Ryan has spent her time on the campaign trail seeking and winning endorsements from law enforcement groups and elected officials, shoring up her support among Democratic leaders and meeting voters at a variety of events, from the Goshen Country Fair last week to the Féria Latina hosted by Alianzas de Phoenixville in July.
Her political endorsements include state Auditor General Eugene Pasquale; state Sens. Andy Dinniman, D-19th, of West Whiteland and Katie Muth, D-44th, of Royersford; and a number of other state and county Democratic officials, including state Rep. Carolyn Comitta, D-156th, of West Chester, and West Chester Mayor Diane Herrin.