Inmate charged in attack on officer at SCI-Greene
WAYNESBURG – An inmate serving a life sentence at SCI-Greene for murder was charged with allegedly striking a corrections officer repeatedly in the head with a makeshift weapon.
Police said Ricardo Lee Noble, 38, of Erie, fashioned the weapon out of a sock and a combination padlock.
Noble tied the sock to the lock and then swung it, striking Michael W. Ivan, a unit manager at the prison, in the head Aug. 8, according to a criminal complaint, filed before District Judge Glenn Bates.
State police said the attack was caught on surveillance video inside the day room in the D Block housing unit.
The video shows Noble walk up behind Ivan, who is speaking to another inmate, and begin to swing the lock at Ivan and then chase Ivan around the day room, the complaint said.
Ivan called for assistance and two corrections officers arrived to contain Noble and place him into custody.
Ivan told police Noble was yelling during the attack saying, “I told you (expletive) I was going to get you.”
Ivan was taken to Southwest Regional Medical Center for treatment. He suffered three lacerations to his head, according to the complaint.
One of the officers that contained Noble told police Noble was upset because he was suppose to have a cell to himself and that changed.
Noble is in prison for the Oct. 18, 1991, shooting death of cab driver, Richard Stevens, 61.
An Erie County jury found Noble and an accomplice, Antonio Howard, both 15 years old at the time, guilty of second-degree murder, robbery and conspiracy.
They were tried as adults. A third youth was tried as a juvenile in the case.
According to court records, Noble and his co-defendants had a friend call for a cab with the intention of robbing the driver.
They led Stevens to a deserted location where Noble, who was in the back seat of the cab, shot Stevens in the head.
The youths then ran from the scene with the juvenile defendant in the case stealing a clipboard and satchel of money from the cab.
This is the third time Noble was charged with assault by a prisoner.
In 2005, he received a sentence in Huntingdon County of 1 to 2 years for procuring a weapon used in an assault at SCI-Huntingdon.
Disposition is pending in a 2006 case in Schuykill County for an alleged assault by Noble at SCI-Frackville.
A preliminary hearing for the alleged assault on Ivan is pending.
Noble is charged with aggravated assault, assault by prisoner, assault by life prisoner, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person.