by: Pete Friend Citizen Journalist / Cowlitz Regional News / CowlitzRegionalNews@protonmail.com
Cowlitz County has seen its share of scams. One of the most recent and notable was perpetrated through a complicated scheme conjured up by none other than Longview’s own Ophelia Noble.
On November 7, 2024, a $1.4 million judgment was lodged against her and the other Noble Foundation LLC directors, Douglas Noble (father), Alice Prejean (mother), Alyce Noble (daughter), Joann Hampton, and Virginia Prioleau (friends).
The lawsuit filed on September 11, 2023, claimed that Noble misappropriated over $1 million.
Noble paid herself hundreds of thousands of dollars, bought vehicles for herself and her mother, and directed the foundation to buy her father’s house, then resell it to her at a deep discount, grossing $224,000 in profit.
In 2012, she and her father, who now resides in Centralia, opened The Noble Foundation (TNF), a for-profit company with the stated goal of promoting financial literacy among marginalized communities.
TNF operated on a small scale until 2019, when its funding increased dramatically as it began receiving lucrative grants and government contracts.
Noble went on to open two nonprofit organizations: Our Place Nuestra Casa Multicultural Center (OPNCMC) and Southwest Washington Communities United for Change (SWCUC), which had local offices at 206 Vine Street in Kelso and 2818 E 4th Plain Blvd in Vancouver.
TNF was initially founded to serve Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in Cowlitz and Clark County.
In 2019, the charities expanded rapidly, securing hundreds of thousands of dollars as part of a statewide effort to encourage the BIPOC communities to register for the 2020 Census.
The charities grew exponentially, especially when the pandemic hit in 2020. OPNCMC provided emergency rent assistance, cash assistance for general household needs, and community education about the dangers of COVID-19 and the importance of the vaccine.
It secured major contracts with the counties and the state to facilitate the Treasury Rent Assistance Program and Eviction Rent Assistance Program. Noble’s organizations distributed more than $1.3 million between 2021 and 2023.
In 2021, as the public’s attention focused on racial justice, defund-the-police, and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, Noble created Southwest Washington Communities United for Change (SWCUC), a tax-exempt social welfare organization.
Noble’s newest enterprise purportedly focused on organizing protests and increasing participation and political representation for the BIPOC communities.
SWCUC brought in several hundred thousand dollars from those interested in establishing BIPOC-led political organizations in the Southwest Washington Region.
Court documents showed that when detailed financial record keeping and regular auditing were required, the public dollars received by the charities were spent correctly.
However, the large grants from private and community foundations, which were not subject to fiscal controls, were where they got into trouble.
The nonprofits raised approximately $1.5 million from several foundations, including the Seattle Foundation, Northwest Health Foundation, Social Justice Fund Northwest, the Satterberg Foundation, the Community Foundation for Southwest Washington, and the Group Health/Inatai Foundation.
The lawsuit charged that Noble started misappropriating money in 2019. She was accused and later admitted to using her position as executive director to misappropriate large sums of donated charitable funds from all three organizations.
The Attorney General’s investigation revealed that Noble and her family received direct, documented payments and benefits of nearly $1 million.
Some examples:
In July 2021, Noble had TNF and SWCUC pay her $355,000 in “back pay” for “contract services” supposedly provided between 2015 and 2021. There is no evidence that any contracts existed, any money was owed, or that these payments were approved by the charities’ boards.
TNF paid Noble’s separate consulting company $310,000 for unspecified “executive director services” that the board never approved.
$200,000 was either withdrawn from the bank accounts without explanation or issued as cashier’s checks to unknown individuals. Only Noble and the directors were authorized signers on these accounts.
In 2020, Noble directed TNF to purchase her father’s home at 3108 Fir Street in Longview for approximately $200,000. She then placed her name and TNF on the deed.
The following year, she bought out TNF’s interest in the home for $100,000. When TNF transferred the title to Noble in 2022, the house was worth at least $324,000, meaning Noble gained $224,000 in equity.
There was no evidence that the foundation’s board reviewed or approved the transactions, which were clearly conflicts of interest.
In 2020, Noble used foundation money to purchase a 2019 Nissan Armada, which she used as her personal vehicle. She used foundation funds to make upgrades and cover maintenance and gas. The foundation also purchased a second vehicle, which Noble later transferred to her mother.
Noble, her family, and the other directors used foundation funds to make purchases totaling more than $65,000 that were unrelated to the charity’s purpose, including gift cards, meals, groceries, gas, travel, cell phones, personal clothing, alcohol, and cigarettes.
The other Defendants, Douglas Noble, Alice Prejean, Joann Hampton, and Alyce Noble, were accused of mismanaging, distributing, and/or misappropriating charitable assets through intentional and/or grossly negligent conduct.
Examples include: Alice Prejean and Joann Hampton signed checks from the charities to Noble and/or other family members for payments they were not legally entitled to.
Douglas Noble transferred the title to the Fir Street property to Noble and TNF via a quit-claim deed, then he accepted full payment from the charities for the property.
Alyce Noble signed a backdated contract for Noble & Associates in an attempt to legitimize a portion of Noble’s back pay from the charities.
While serving as treasurers and exercising supervisory authority over expenditures, Alice Prejean and Joann Hampton failed to take sufficient steps to prevent numerous inappropriate transactions. Also, while serving as directors and/or officers, Douglas Noble, Alice Prejean, Joann Hampton, and Alyce Noble did not adequately account for expenditures.
By the time the three charities ceased operations in 2023, there wasn’t any money left in the accounts.
Ophelia Noble, other than donating her personal funds or volunteering, is banned from all interactions with charitable organizations in Washington for life, and the other defendants are forbidden for ten years.
They may have had grandiose ideas of living like the rich and famous, but in the end, Noble financially devastated everyone around her, including her father, who lost his home, which had to be sold to help pay the judgment.
They got caught up in her schemes and had their lives destroyed, while they helped destroy the public trust in the nonprofits tasked with helping those truly in need.
The defendants agreed that there was sufficient evidence to support the state’s findings of fact and agreed to the stipulated judgment; they also waived their right to appeal.
In return, they will not serve jail time, and $1million of the penalty has been suspended. If the defendants violate the terms of the judgment, the penalty can be reinstated, and the state can seek civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.
Now that Ophelia Noble has moved to Las Vegas, we can only hope she doesn’t continue to inflict her fraudulent craft upon another unsuspecting community.
Washington State Office of the Attorney General Original Press Release
Original Clark County Superior Court Complaint Filed Sept. 11, 2023
Final Stipulated Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Judgment
Ophelia Noble’s Our Place Nuestra Casa Multicultural Center Website
