Acerca de

My name is Apphia Noel and I have been a victim of rape, domestic violence, and the criminal justice system both here in Georgia and in California. My husband, Jesse Daniel Noel Sr., is successful in Hollywood and comes from an Academy Award winning family. My husband is also a pedophile, rapist, and family abuser. Sharing my story is my best chance to survive, save my children, and bring awareness to a problem within the justice system that may one day help those in your community.

 

My sons, JJ (10) and Asher (2), have been missing for 110 days. I have no information concerning their whereabouts, livelihood, or well-being. They have been taken from me by their father with the assistance of powerful attorneys and an unjust criminal justice system. I have tried to do everything in my power to free myself and my boys from danger by following the law and working within the legal system. It is now apparent that to save my sons I must go public and implore this community to call out their local police and judicial systems for enabling the abuse of my children and their traumatization of other long-standing law-abiding members of Fayette County.

 

In 2016 my family moved to Georgia for a year while Jesse Sr. worked on the Black Panther movie filmed here in Fayette County. During this time, he began to abuse alcohol and his behavior towards me and eventually my son changed. Since 2016 I have grown to live in terror of my husband and now so do my sons. After returning to California, Covid hit and our lives spiraled. Jesse Sr.’s alcohol abuse grew, along with his abuse and desire for live child pornography. My husband’s abuse towards me became increasingly violent and eventually turned towards my sons. In addition to rape, my husband literally began walking and standing on me and suffocating me to the point of unconsciousness. His threats to kill me also increased. He began telling me he planned to kill me and how. “I’ll bury you in the back yard where no one will ever find you.” “If you ever try to leave me, I will destroy you. I am the predator, and you are the prey.” My weight dropped to 90 pounds and my son JJ started having seizures I would later discover were due to trauma induced disassociation. During this time my drunken husband was frequently sleeping in JJ’s room, against my wishes.

 

In April of 2021, I was cooking dinner when I heard JJ let out a blood curdling scream. I ran down the hall to find my wasted husband lying with his full body weight on top of my son, smothering his face with a pillow. My son could not breathe or make a sound. I grabbed Jesse Sr’s ankles and yanked with all of my strength. I pulled JJ out and we ran to the master bedroom and locked the door. I believe that if I had not been there that day my son would have died.

 

The week my husband almost suffocated my son to death I filed for, and was granted, a temporary restraining order in California for myself and my children. This should have been the beginning of the end of our nightmare, but it was not to be. Though my husband was ordered to stay away from me and my children, he repeatedly violated my restraining order against him by having me followed, driving by our home, leaving dead animals at my door, hacking into my email/business/phone accounts, and illegally forwarding my personal mail to his parents’ home address. I called the police again and again, reporting every incident. They did nothing to protect me. Instead, they parroted my husband’s baseless accusations in their reports: “She has an undiagnosed mental disorder”, or they’d add the label 918 to their reports which means ‘insane person’. They called out the HOPE mental health evaluators to my home on April 20, 2021, who did not believe I needed to be 5150’d (involuntarily committed). Some officers said I was too emotional, others like the detective who took down my rape report, said I wasn’t emotional or genuine enough. I began to distrust police and was afraid to speak to them even when I needed to call them for help. Every time I contacted the police they did nothing, often noting in their logs that my restraining order was expired which was blatantly false. Had the Pasadena police department done their job and upheld the law, my husband would have been arrested and I would have been granted a permanent restraining order with full custody of my children.

 

When I took my son to his doctor to evaluate his seizures the doctor stated they appeared to be trauma induced. JJ’s’ doctor even filed a report with the police. I scheduled a separate appointment with Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles to have my son evaluated to determine if he was being abused and by whom. Right before this appointment my husband cancelled (by failing to renew) our health insurance. In an earlier hearing the judge ordered my husband to find a therapist for our son after he claimed that I was coaching JJ and erroneously convincing our child that he was being abused by his father. To my knowledge, my husband never followed through, in direct violation of the court order, and kept making excuses as to why he had not arranged therapy for our son JJ.

 

On August 6th, 2021, I went to court to obtain a permanent restraining order in California. Even though I had originally been assigned a judge with a good reputation, my first attorney transferred my case to the Honorable Michael R. Powell’s courtroom at the request of my husband’s attorneys led by Robin Sax. During this hearing Judge Powell refused to hear from powerful witnesses including a teacher from JJ’s school whom he had confided in concerning the abuse he experienced by his father, the private therapist my son had been seeing, and witnesses who had seen my husband viewing teen porn on his laptop. Judge Powell did allow the court appointed child psychiatrist who testified for an hour to the suffocation, black eyes, emotional abuse, and fear of his father my son shared with her during his evaluation. She also stated that she did not believe my son was being coached by me.

 

Even though I had already provided a written statement or declaration as to the abuse I experienced and my own witness that my husband’s pornography addiction had turned to young pre-pubescent children, Judge Powell chose to ask me 89 invasive questions, mostly concerning how my husband raped me. This occurred in front of my abuser and a court room that was not closed to the public. I have been told by attorneys and domestic violence advocates that Judge Powell’s questioning of me was uncalled for and completely inappropriate. I recently filed two complaints against him with the California State Bar but don’t have much hope that anything will come of it based on my experience with the criminal justice system so far.

 

After Judge Powell disregarded/minimized teen pornography, refused to hear from pertinent witnesses, heard testimony from his own court appointed therapist (who stated my son was abused and in fear of his father), and revictimized me with highly inappropriate and unnecessary questions concerning my experiences of rape - in a court room full of strangers and Jesse Sr, the judge denied us protection. Disturbingly, Judge Powell permitted my husband unsupervised visitation with my children and had Dr. Diane Kelley’s testimony sealed, making it unlawful to share her official testimony of my son’s abuse “to any third party, other than the parties and their counsel of record without a court order”. Judge Powell later said that she (Dr. Kelley) lived “in a bubble” and that as “the court”, he determined our credibility.

 

Though I attempted to follow Judge Powell’s demands and allow my husband his court-ordered time with our sons, JJ frequently refused to go to or speak with his father over the phone. He also made an excited utterance to Officer C. Alfonso during one of our custody exchanges that took place at the police department. JJ told Officer Alfonso that he was scared of his father, that Jesse Sr. hurt him, steamrolled him (rolled over him with all of his body weight restricting his air flow and causing pain), gave him black eyes, and touched his penis. Officer Alfonso said that JJ did not have to go with his father and after I took my boys home, Alfonso – per Sergeant Gurrola, filed a police report against me stating that I had violated the custody agreement. Though I have requested body cam footage of this incident the Pasadena police department has refused to provide it to me. Fortunately for JJ, I have my own recording of this incident.

 

Judge Powell followed suit accusing me of violating the custody agreement, again disregarding my son JJ’s cries of abuse. Judge Powell awarded my husband primary custody of my sons, and I was only allowed short visitation every two weeks. My son JJ would have seizures every time I was forced to hand him over to Jesse Sr. In October of 2021, after spending two weeks with their father and his parents, my sons were handed over to me smelling of urine and feces. They were both inconsolable! My baby, who is now two years old had fingerprint bruises on his tiny thighs akin to the ones my husband had left on me. My son JJ was traumatized and shared a conversation his grandfather had with him. His grandfather stated that he used to be a good person but wasn’t anymore and told my 9-year-old son of serial killers who would rip the arms and legs off of children and watch them bleed to death. I was horrified. Part of what his grandfather said mirrored a text sent between my brother-in-law and Casey (Jesse Sr.’s brother), “Why did your brother tell me that he has no morals, principles, or values? He told me he isn’t the same person I met years ago and that he believes in nothing and that there are things he has done that he never thought he would do….”. I knew that to save my boys I had to escape because there was no hope of justice or protection for my boys in California.

 

Fortunately, a good friend of mine in Peachtree City, Georgia, who had seen and questioned bruises on me back in 2016 had been made aware of what my boys and I were going through around April of 2021. Jesseca Rodriguez generously purchased plane tickets for all three of us and we were able to make it to Georgia on October 17, 2021. According to UCCJEA statutes, those in fear of their lives may flee to another state and file for protection there. On October 19, 2021, Peachtree City Police Officer Vazquez showed up at the front door of Jesseca’s home. Vasquez said they were ordered by California to do a welfare check and later filed a report stating that me and my boys were fine (Case no. P21-30163). During this visit Officer Vasquez held up the phone and we discovered CA Investigators were on speaker listening to everything my friend and I had said. They stated that I needed to file a Good Cause form. I did so immediately and submitted it to California which meant they knew my address within two days of my arrival in Georgia. From that point forward Jesseca was frequently followed around town by unknown individuals.

 

During additional phone conversations with CA Detective Tudic, witnessed by my friend, we were led to believe that my husband would likely be arrested. I had great hope that my nightmare would end when I logged on to my CA Zoom court hearing scheduled on November 17, 2021. Instead, I received no protection nor the arrest of my husband; my attorney stepped down at the beginning of the hearing and I was blindsided. The only words I could get out were “does this mean I don’t have representation?”. Judge Powell immediately said something along the lines of “don’t worry about it, you’ll get a chance to speak”. I could not hold back the tears as I realized once again all my hopes of deliverance were lost. Rather than allowing for an extension, which is what should have happened to give me time to find new representation, Judge Powell proceeded to give my husband full custody of our children in addition to full control over all my businesses, effectively stripping me of all power and income to fight for myself and my children. I have been told by more than one attorney afterwards that many things Judge Powell did during this hearing were “illegitimate”.

 

On December 15, 2021, my friends and I were so excited when, through the help of my local attorney, the Georgia court granted us an Emergency Ex Parte Hearing which would have enabled us to stay here and finally be free and protected from our abuser. Within hours, on that very same day, Judge Powell and DA Investigator Jennifer Martin retaliated by filing a warrant for my arrest to have me "dragged back to California".  Their court documentation implied that I was a danger to my boys and am likely suffering from some undiagnosed mental illness. Local residents here, including licensed professionals in counseling and criminology consultants, have found this odd since if I were truly a danger to my children why would the court in California delay ‘rescuing my boys’, having known their location since October 19, 2021? Judge Powell and Jennifer Martin chose to wait until immediately after I filed for my Emergency Ex Parte hearing. Simply stated, it would have placed every decision they had made in my previous hearings, and their implied investigations of our abuse, under a microscope.

 

Unfortunately, I was unaware this had occurred until it was too late. On December 20th, 2021, the first time I left my boys in the care of someone else so I could buy them some Christmas presents, California’s child abduction unit and local police raided Jesseca’s Georgia home and took my boys away, without coats or shoes on a cold winter day. They also left my son’s seizure medication; seizures that had begun to occur less frequently after 60 days in Georgia. My boys, who were beginning to thrive again in a loving environment safe from their terrifying father, were suddenly gone.

 

My local friends and I immediately called my attorney and GA Judge Scott A Ballard’s office to have the removal of my children stopped. We spent hours on the phone being transferred between Judge Ballard and GA Judge Kruezinger’s offices while my sons were being returned to their abuser and flown back to California.  No one seemed to know who was handling my case. After a lot of back-and-forth Judge Ballard blamed their incompetence on a clerk of court error as to no one knowing which judge actually had the case. Judge Ballard subsequently took over my case again, assuming it had ever actually been transferred to Kruezinger in the first place, and then closed it within minutes of my boys being forcefully taken; endangering my children and denying me my right to the Emergency Ex Parte hearing that I had been granted in Fayette County on December 15, 2021.

 

On December 20, 2021 the police called me and said if I wanted to see my boys again I would have to come down to the station. Having been made aware that a warrant had been put out for my arrest I had to go into hiding, if I ever hoped to see my boys again. On February 14, 2022, with the assistance of others helping me from a distance, I was able to file an appeal against Judge Powell’s latest unethical, if not illegal actions. Yet with everything we do, CA courts keep trying to impede us. The CA court called my local representatives and tried to state my appeal would not be accepted because it was submitted as a JPEG rather than PDF file, which was false. After an extended conversation with them they agreed it was filed correctly, ran out of excuses, and had to accept it. Weeks later CA filed to throw out my appeal stating lack of payment, again false. My representatives resubmitted the payment and it was accepted.

 

To date I have managed to elude capture for a warrant that is unlawful on its face. I have been advised by national domestic violence experts that there are many women in my situation currently languishing in jail while their children have been returned to unsafe environments with men who hold all the power or prestige. I have had many wonderful people in this community try to get me qualified representation in California, to no avail as people refuse to take on my case or require extremely high fees that are impossible to afford having no income and being forced to remain in hiding. I have spent a year now trying to save myself and my boys the traditional way via the criminal justice system. Through my experiences, based on the level of incompetence (if not outright corruption) surrounding law enforcement and judicial agencies involved in violating our rights, and enabling the abuse of my children, I am now fully aware that the best way to get help, resulting in my boys being returned safely to me, is to shine a light on the injustice system. Their complete lack of accountability when they fail to uphold the law, callously speak to victims, and force mothers to choose between the lives of their children or imprisonment needs to be known.

 

Concerned citizen: Apphia’s husband abused her and her children for years. He threatened to kill her, and she has evidence that he researched how to do so which was disregarded by the California judicial system. Jesse Sr is an explosives and special effects expert with access to weapons and incendiary devices. He is dangerous, most likely still abusing alcohol, and now has custody of his children who were violently stolen from their mother when she tried to stand up for herself and her sons. If Jesse Sr isn’t with his children, they are left with his parents. Unfortunately, Jesse Sr’s family are also dangerous. During one of his drunken tirades back in 2020 he shared with Apphia that his own mother had sexually abused him when he was a child, shocking her. Jesse’s brother Casey threatened Apphia by saying that anyone who messes with his family won’t live to regret it. Last year Apphia also discovered, during all of these hearings and interactions with police, that her husband was charged with rape, not related to her or her boys, on January 1, 2020, as listed on Los Angeles County District Attorney Charge Evaluation Worksheet. When she asked law enforcement what he’d been charged with they ignored her request. As happened where her boys and she were concerned, this charge must have also quietly disappeared.

 

JJ told numerous people including friends, teachers, therapists, police officers, and even local GA residents that he was terrified of his father and that he was abused by Jesse Sr. He told his mother that “Daddy takes me to places with people you don’t know, and I don’t like it.” Apphia found drawings hidden in her son’s closet sometime after she filed for the initial restraining order.  When she asked JJ about two particular drawings, he had a seizure. Multiple local licensed professionals have viewed these drawings and every single one of them believes they indicate physical and sexual abuse, most likely involving additional offenders. Extremely questionable photos were taken of her child that she found and downloaded from her family’s iCloud account before fleeing. I have seen them; her son looks staged and possibly drugged. She also has pictures of her and her children’s bruises, at least one of which was a selfie taken by her own son JJ to show a handprint bruise around his arm close to his elbow caused by his father. Here in Georgia, many licensed mental health workers have met and interacted with Apphia. Not one of them indicated she has an undiagnosed mental health disorder….with the possible exception of PTSD based on trauma at the hands of her husband and the criminal justice system, and becoming more aware of the extent of her son’s abuse. No one believes she is insane as the Pasadena Police Officers liked to indicate in their reports.

 

Several GA residents with domestic violence, law, and criminology backgrounds have been consulted and shown evidence on this case including personal testimonies, eyewitness statements, pictures, voice recordings, police reports, and official court documentation. Every single one of them have stated that this case is highly unusual, a miscarriage of justice, or that “something very fishy” appears to be going on here. No one understands why Jesse Sr was not charged with cruelty to children after attempting to suffocate his son as witnessed by Apphia, attested by his son, and testified to on August 6, 2021 by Dr. Kelley (a licensed clinical psychologist with 40+ years of experience). Everyone agrees that Judge Powell was inappropriate and unprofessional in his handling of multiple hearings, particularly his questioning of Apphia on August 6, 2021, his blatant disregard of child abuse, and his continuation of court proceedings once her attorney stepped down without warning. No one understands why Judge Ballard failed to hear out Apphia who was granted her emergency ex parte hearing (instantly gives GA jurisdiction and her full custody of the children prior to the hearing date), which was granted prior to California suddenly deciding it was urgent that a warrant be placed for her arrest and that the boys needed to be returned immediately. Seems rather odd to me as well.

 

As a 9-year-old, JJ bravely spoke out against a man three times his size to try and protect his family and his now 2-year-old brother. Rather than rescue him, which is the job of law enforcement, they tried to force his mother to put his life at risk, and then later kidnapped him and his baby brother Asher, to return them to their abuser.  Not only did both CA and GA law enforcement agencies further endanger these children and their mother, CA Judge Powell contacted JJ’s Catholic school and got them to drop the investigation they were about to open concerning statements of his father’s abuse he made to his teacher. It seems to me that Georgia law enforcement could have investigated this case as Apphia’s abuse started in Georgia back in 2016 and her bruises were witnessed by a Peachtree City resident, Jesseca Rodriguez; a woman who later helped Apphia and her sons escape their abusers. Jesseca opened her home to Apphia’s family. She was witness to how traumatized JJ and Asher were, JJ’s statements of abuse, and the children’s slow progress towards healing as the days they had in GA ticked by. Her kindness was rewarded by being followed around town while driving and shopping by unknown persons who could only have been hired by one person.

 

As payment for being one of those rare people who put their own life and comfort on the line to protect women and children in need, Jesseca’s husband was threatened by Corey (Jesse Sr’s brother) who implied that he could get her husband fired. Jesseca’s husband now also works in the movie industry. Her home was stormed by California’s child abduction unit and local officers, traumatizing her family, babysitter, and three children (ages 7, 3, and now 2), in addition to Apphia’s sons on December 20, 2021. This incident led to her 7-year-old daughter having nightmares about being taken by police away from her mother!! And, since that couldn’t possibly be enough thanks for being a kind law-abiding citizen, our local police department decided to swarm her the day after Christmas, again scaring her and her three young children. Apparently following orders, the police needed 6 patrol cars to surround Jesseca as she pulled into the driveway of her home, clearly in order to intimidate her…as the only reason they were there was to let her know that she would be arrested if she was helping in any way to harbor a fugitive. I guess you need multiple officers and six squad cars to relay a simple message these days. It would be one thing if Apphia was not in contact with both GA and CA police since her arrival here, but she was. The law was followed and neither Jesseca nor Apphia ever hid her location from the police; in fact, they included it in court documentation.

 

Both CA and our local law enforcement took advantage of Apphia’s transparency and used it to kidnap her children, then terrorize and threaten her, her children, and a local family of five. On February 22, 2022 Jesseca was harassed again at home by a group of plain clothed men who stated they were US Marshalls once she finally spoke to them. They pounded on her door and when she refused to answer, the Marshalls walked around her home looking through windows and then began talking to her three-year-old son through a window which prompted her to speak with them. They had no warrant yet asked to see her phone and look inside. She refused to give them her phone but did let them look around her home. Then they accused her of being…. uncooperative?

 

Jesseca recently tried to file an incident report concerning the bruises she’d witnessed on Apphia, the statements of abuse she heard from 10-year-old JJ after he arrived in GA, and their traumatized behaviors that slowly began to dissipate while they were here. She also wanted to report being intimidated and threatened by police and other law enforcement agencies. When the first Sheriff’s Deputy showed up, they began listening to Jesseca’s statement in the lobby. Though they had a notepad, they wrote nothing down. The deputy took several calls during this time which constantly interrupted Jesseca’s relaying of traumatizing events, and it also gave the impression that what she was saying was of no interest to the police. The deputy, though polite, was clearly juggling too many responsibilities at once and really didn’t want to write up the incident report; stating that Jesseca should really go through the courts, that the report would just sit on her desk and be of no use. Jesseca and her friend stated they would like to file one anyway so there was a record of what she had witnessed and experienced. The deputy finally suggested speaking to a superior to see if there was someone else or a different agency that Jesseca should speak to, rather than filing an incident report with them. The deputy returned a few minutes later with Captain Lee. After a few minutes of conversation that mostly involved him interjecting his opinions, rather than listening to what Jesseca and her friend were trying to say, it became apparent that the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department would not file an incident report. Though Captain Lee initially seemed to be trying to bring what he appeared to genuinely believe was clarity (unaware that they already understood and were aware of what he felt the need to state), all he really did was speak based on presumption prior to taking the time to first listen. When Jesseca’s friend tried to bring up her “harassment” (a word they thought would be less antagonizing than “intimidation” or “terrorizing”) by the local police, Captain Lee immediately interrupted them and said that the police did not harass anyone, telling them (Jesseca and her friend) “let’s stop with that right now”, “I don’t like that language”. At this point Jesseca’s friend realized that his behavior and this whole process was further traumatizing and suggested they leave immediately. As someone who has worked with victim advocacy in the past, it is disheartening to know that the sheriff’s department takes initial incident statements in the main lobby while answering other phone calls as people are sharing what can be very personal/traumatizing information. I also understand that police officers are under a lot of pressure these days as their image is frequently under attack and that Captain Lee was probably reacting from the current cultural climate. However, interrupting, getting angry, and telling those who are brave enough to come into a sheriff’s office (especially after witnessing and experiencing such a miscarriage of justice and police intimidation) that what they are saying is a lie and being told which words they are or are not allowed to use when sharing their genuine concerns, is completely unacceptable.

 

As a local resident I can’t speak for the gross misconduct that occurred in California’s handling of Apphia and JJ’s case, but I can voice my concern over our own judicial and police system’s handling of it in Fayette County Georgia. I would like to know why our local police department failed to investigate this case when the domestic violence began here in 2016, with bruises witnessed by others then and now, and why no interviews were conducted of those individuals here that JJ confided in concerning his abuse by his father, either here or in California. Why was his evaluation never reviewed from the Georgia Southern Crescent Sexual Assault Center by local law enforcement? Why did Judge Ballard ground Judge Powell’s warrant here and why did police try to enforce it when they knew or should have known that Apphia never “concealed her children”. Why are our local police being used like storm troopers to terrorize and intimidate local residents and their children when they never broke the law? WHY are they so desperately hunting Apphia, a woman who no longer has her children, who has been victimized by her husband and now a criminal justice system she used to believe in.

 

I don’t know if Apphia and her sons have been endangered because her husband hired Robin Sax and a team of attorneys that were just better than hers, if the Pasadena Police Department doesn’t know how to read so they were genuinely unaware that her TPO was still in effect when her husband violated it, if the Pasadena police officers suffer from their own undiagnosed delusions of being mental health professionals equipped to judge and assess the ‘proper way’ for a woman in fear to handle her abuse, if it’s easy to buy off officials in CA and maybe here when you have strong ties to Hollywood, if Judge Powell has his own interest in teen porn which is why he would speak of it as if it were no problem during the August 6 hearing, or if perhaps he watches such a variety of porn he is unaware of the meaning of fetish or that some people have particular tastes. To disregard Dr. Diane Kelley’s testimony of JJ’s abuse and imply that Apphia wasn’t credible because her husband repeatedly raped and abused her in similar ways, speaks to how ignorant and ill-trained he is and that he has no business being a judge, even in California. Regardless of this imbecile’s assessment of Apphia and his mindless (if not purchased) opinion of her credibility, she is not the one who told friends, police, teachers, therapists, and local Fayette County residents that his father is scary, mean, and bad. A nine-year-old child named JJ did …and everyone with the power to do something about it chose to ignore him. Rather, they dragged him and his baby brother Asher back to their father who JJ said hits, yells at, inappropriately touches, and suffocates them. If we can’t rely on particular members of this town to protect and speak up for women, children, and local residents, then I am happy to do so. I hope those of you that read this are also willing.   

 

“Connecticut and national data confirm that male caregivers are more likely to be the perpetrators of fatal injuries to young children and that children are more at risk for fatal child abuse while in the care of an abusive father or male partner without the presence of the mother.” (Pollack, Hamilton, & Robb, 2021, p. 2) https://childusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Testimony_Pollack_CT_SB1060.2.25.21.pdf