Noah Felice also has a record, although his misdemeanor convictions do not prevent him from running for office.
View full sizeWhen Noah Felice registered to vote in Oswego County, he gave 1744 State Route 49 in Constantia as his address. But at that address is a red barn structure with at least two businesses, including a dog groomer and tanning salon. Constantia, NY -- Noah Felice is running for town judge in Oswego County. His criminal record appears to be the least of his worries.
Felice, a private investigator who says he was once rescued by aliens, lives in the town of Manlius. He’s on the ballot for town judge in Constantia, 20 miles away in Oswego County.
He got on the ballot in August by listing his address as 1744 state Route 49, Constantia. That address houses an excavating company, a dog-grooming business and a tanning salon. But no home or apartment.
And the people who work at that address say they’ve never seen Felice there.
Last month, he contacted Richard Wicks about renting an apartment in Constantia, Wicks said. Felice told him he wanted to pay half the rent because he wasn’t planning on living there, Wicks said.
Wicks wouldn’t go for that, but he asked Felice if he wanted to rent a desk for $100 at the commercial building at 1744 Route 49, said Wicks, who owns the excavating company and manages the building.
Felice told him he did, but he never signed a lease, Wicks said. And even if Felice had, the office space is not a home, Wicks said.
Noah Felice in December 2009Felice, 59, used that address to register to vote as a Democrat in Oswego County on Sept. 21, according to his voter registration card. He signed an affidavit saying the information on the card was true and that if it was not, he would be guilty of a felony that carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
“He’s never been in here, and I’ve never talked to him,” said Deona Presseau, owner of Dee’s Pet Grooming in the one-story building on Route 49.
“He just wanted to have an address,” said Wicks, who spoke with Felice two or three times on the phone and met him once at one of Wicks’ apartments. “That’s when I got suspicious.”
Wicks asked Felice if he needed someone to answer the phone for him at the office, Wicks said. “He told me, point blank, ‘Rick, I don’t even want a key to the building,’ ” Wicks said.
Felice is registered to vote in both Oswego and Onondaga counties, according to the boards of election in each county. He voted in the Democratic primary in Onondaga County Sept. 14, according to Elections Commissioner Helen Kiggins. That was three weeks after a Constantia town caucus nominated Felice to run for the judge’s seat in Oswego County.
His voting in an Onondaga County primary after getting certified to run for office in Oswego County could be grounds for disqualifying Felice from the race, Kiggins said.
A reporter dropped in Sunday afternoon at Felice’s Manlius home, at 5421 Springview Drive. Felice was there but closed the door on the reporter after saying he was dropping out of the race and would not be on the ballot.
Felice said he has to pull out because he has surgery scheduled on his leg. However, his last chance to decline the nomination was Sept. 24, said Dick Atkins, the Oswego County elections commissioner. “He’s on the ballot, and he’s not going to get off,” Atkins said.
In a phone interview Sunday, Felice wouldn’t say who nominated him at the Aug. 25 Democratic town caucus in Constantia. “I know a lot of people,” he said. “A lot of people, contrary to the bad stuff, know I’m a good person and trust my experience.”
He said he would call the Oswego Board of Elections on Monday to make sure he was off the ballot. Felice did not call the board, Atkins said.
Felice said he had moved to Oswego County, but was now in the process of moving back to Manlius. He would not be more specific about the Oswego County residence. The people who nominated him were aware of his criminal record, he said.
Michael Kunzwiler, the Oswego County Democratic Party chairman, said Felice approached party officials a couple months ago about running for the judge’s seat, and they told him to go through the town caucus process. He also put in his name for the Democratic endorsement for sheriff in June and lost, Kunzwiler said.
Kunzwiler said he was unaware that Felice had been endorsed in Constantia. Kunzwiler also said that he didn’t know about Felice’s criminal record or that he was registered to vote in two counties.
Felice’s criminal record would seem to be an obstacle, Kunzwiler said. “If you’re running for judge, I don’t think you’d want anything on your record,” he said.
Felice’s criminal record doesn’t prohibit him from running for office because his convictions are misdemeanors, Onondaga County Elections Commissioner Ed Ryan said. Felons cannot run.
Felice, who has a state license as an armed security guard, was convicted in Onondaga County in March of a misdemeanor charge of offering a false instrument for filing. Felice admitted in a guilty plea that he lied when he amended his pistol permit in 2008 that he did not have a criminal record. Prosecutors said he has many criminal convictions.
He was also convicted of a misdemeanor in Pike County, Pa., in August for falsely swearing that he had no criminal record when he applied for a private detective’s license, according to the county clerk’s office.
He has convictions for sexual battery, grand theft and obstructing a police officer in California, according to a sheriff’s detective’s affidavit in the Pike County case. The convictions were in separate incidents — sexual battery in Los Angeles in 1992, grand theft in Orange County and the obstructing charge in Orange County, the report said. He also had a conviction in New York state, the report said.
Felice was featured on History Channel two years ago in a show about UFOs. He said he was flying a plane over the Pacific Ocean in 1980 when a beam of liquid light shot out of the water and forced his plane to crash, killing his cousin. Felice said in the broadcast that aliens saved his life. The Federal Aviation Administration blamed Felice for the crash, saying he diverted his attention from the plane.
Felice is running against two Republican incumbents, Mark Simpson and Stephen Pelon, for the seat that pays $8,400 a year. Pelon was unaware that any Democrat was running. Simpson said he’d heard about Felice recently. Simpson found stories about Felice that ran in The Post-Standard.
“I sent an e-mail to the chair of the Republican Party: ‘I’m not sure about this character,’ ” Simpson said.
Contact John O’Brien at jobrien@syracuse.com or 470-2187.