Local man receives prison sentence for third sex crime involving a minor in 8 years

SUGAR CITY — A 25-year-old, who has already been convicted for two other sex crimes involving minors, was sentenced to prison after he admitted to raping a 17-year-old girl.

Noah Sean Della Silva was sentenced by District Judge Steven Boyce on April 16 to a minimum of five and a maximum of 17 years in prison.

Della Silva was initially charged with felony rape, where the victim resists and the resistance is overcome by force or violence. The charge was later amended in a plea agreement, where he pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a victim who is 16 or 17 years of age and the perpetrator is 3 years or more older than the victim.

In 2018, Della Silva, then 18, was charged with felony rape. The charge was later amended to felony injury to a child following a plea agreement, and he was sentenced to a six-year suspended prison sentence and eight years of probation.

He later violated probation, and during his more recent sentencing, the previous ruling was changed and Della Silva was given a minimum of two and a maximum of six years in prison.

The 2026 sentence will run concurrent with the amended 2018 sentence, meaning that he will serve both sentences at the same time. He will also receive credit for 541 days of jail time already served.

In 2019, Della Silva, then 19, was investigated for one felony count of lewd conduct with a child. According to the Madison County Prosecutor’s Office, court filings do not show this case because it was prosecuted as a juvenile matter, so further details are unavailable.

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Della Silva’s prior record

Court documents show that a 17-year-old victim reported to a Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy on Sept. 9, 2024, that she had been raped by Della Silva.

She told police she was at Della Silva’s house in Sugar City on March 13 to watch a movie when he “became increasingly sexual” and told her she was “mature for her age.”

The victim says she tried to “steer the interaction away from being sexual” and reminded Della Silva that she had to be home by midnight.

She told detectives that she said “no” to his advances, but that he picked her up and took her to another room before raping her. Police reports state Della Silva “knew of (the victim’s) age prior to this event.”

During the sentencing hearing, Madison County Prosecutor Rob Wood argued that Della Silva should serve for a minimum of four years in prison and a maximum of 25 years, due to his criminal history and “scary” ability to manipulate people.

“This is not the first time this defendant was charged with statutory rape. When he was 18 or 19, he was charged with statutory rape. At that time, the state, through a plea agreement, amended that charge to felony injury to a child,” said Wood. “About a year or so after that, we became aware that this defendant had been (sexually assaulting) a family member who was a minor child. Obviously, had we known that on his 2018 case, we would not have made the plea agreement we had.”

According to Wood, Della Silva received a “very large benefit” for pleading guilty to the 2018 charge; he was not required to register as a sex offender and was not required to serve prison time.

“This defendant has refused to change,” said Wood. “His story kept changing, and the one thing that became clear is that the defendant has no relationship with the truth and cannot be trusted to tell the truth.”

Wood told the court that multiple people submitted letters of support for Della Silva in the case, which he says “shocked” him, given the allegations and his criminal history.

“Reading through those and knowing what this defendant was doing at the time, that these people knew him, it’s shocking,” said Wood. “Frankly, it’s scary that this defendant was around people who believed these things about him. I don’t think they really know him. I think he tricked those people.”

Wood explained that the state requested a 25-year maximum, not to be excessive, but because of the seriousness and repetition of the same crimes.

“This is not the state shooting for the stars, trying to pull the court up. The state truly believes that indeterminate sentence is necessary,” said Wood. “Clearly, he is a danger to those around him, and he’s clearly a danger to juvenile victims.”

Della Silva’s public defender, Trent Grant, argued that the state’s recommendation for a maximum of 25 years in prison was too harsh, and that he should receive a retained jurisdiction or a “rider” with an underlying sentence of a minimum of two years and a maximum of 10 years in prison, if he violates probation.

“One of the concerns that I have is whether or not this recommendation made by the state is based upon the objective facts that are in front of the court, or if it is a recommendation made out of regret, as the state said, (that) prior deals that Mr. Noah Della Silva had been given,” said Grant. “The state recognizes now that that was not a good decision to make those deals.”

Grant argued that the sentence is too long for the crime and that Della Silva would be better off in a position where he could prove to the community that he can be rehabilitated.

“There is some work, admittedly, that needs to be done by Mr. Della Silva, but a lengthy 25-year prison sentence is not what is going to put Mr. Della Silva into that type of a position (for rehabilitation),” said Grant. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 25-year sentence in almost 30 years as an attorney. For a forcible rape, I have maybe seen a couple of sentences that would be close to that or along those lines.”

The public defender then argued that the court should be somewhat lenient, as Della Silva has gone through multiple personal hardships during his active cases.

“He was engaged, and then, less than a year before these charges were filed, that engagement was broken off,” said Grant. “Mr. Della Silva experienced a loss in his family and a (family member) had committed suicide during that time … significant factors or events that can occur in our lives, that can cause grief, that can cause trauma, that lead to impulsive behavior, that lead to poor decisions, that lead to decline in functioning.”

Della Silva’s statement and sentencing

Della Silva gave a short statement to the court, apologizing for his behavior and for the harm he caused to the victim and her family. The victim was not present in court and did not provide an impact statement.

“I just really wanted to say I’m sorry. I’ve learned a lot over this past year and a half of being in here. It’s not really rainbows and sunshine. It’s not something I would think of as an easy task,” said Della Silva. “Even though (the victim’s family) isn’t here, I truly want to say I’m sorry to them for putting this situation in their lives, for making their daughter feel this … way. It truly wasn’t my intention to make that happen that way.”

Della Silva continued, stating that he is now attending church and participating in rehabilitation programs.

“I have grown physically, mentally and spiritually at the time I’ve been in here. I’ve been going back to church, I’ve been going to 12 steps. I’ve been trying my hardest to make myself a better person, and I’ve been working on myself in ways to know if I do go back out in the community, then I will be able to be a contributing member, and be a helpful member of society, and do the right thing, in the right way that I need to.”

Before ruling, Boyce explained to Della Silva that while he believes the year and a half he’s already spent in jail deters and punishes him, the crime and the recurrence of similar crimes deserve an additional prison sentence.

“The aggravating factors just pile up in this case. First of all, the fact that Mr. Della Silva already did a sex offender treatment, then this occurred, a rape charge,” said Boyce. “The argument that because of stressful things happening in your life, you acted out in a way that is inappropriate, is the opposite of what we would like to see from people that go through rehabilitative treatment.”

“Stressful things happen to people all the time,” Boyce continued. “And if the reaction is going to be to commit a felony, that is obviously very concerning to the court.”

Boyce told Della Silva that it was highly concerning that he had already been through sex offender treatment and still decided to rape a minor afterward.

“You went through what we had to offer, and it didn’t work,” said Boyce. “Your criminal history, which is not extensive in terms of the number of cases, but it’s exclusively sex crimes. The only logical decision I can make here is that a sentence of imprisonment is the appropriate sentence to accomplish those objectives.”