Overview

Drake Bell Child Endangerment refers to a attempted assault made against Former nickelodeon actor Drake Bell. Drake Bell has pleaded guilty to attempted child endangerment and faces up to two years in prison.

Background

Drake Bell, pleaded not guilty on Thursday in a Cleveland courtroom to a felony charge of attempted endangering children and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. In June 2017, Drake Bell was charged with attempted child endangerment and disseminating harmful material to children earlier this month. ^[1] According to the New York Times, the two charges specifically refer to a girl who met Bell online and attended a concert of his in Cleveland in 2017. The actor and singer had initially pleaded not guilty before entering into a plea deal during a virtual court hearing yesterday.

The then-15-year-old filed a report at her home police department in Canada back in 2018. Cleveland police then conducted an investigation and found the girl “established a relationship with Bell several years prior and attended his concert in December 2017.

Developments

Bell pleaded guilty to two charges: attempted child endangerment and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles.

Bell admitted to both charges in Wednesday’s online court appearance. He faces between six and 18 months in prison -- and a possible fine of up to $5,000 -- for attempted child endangerment. Prison time is not mandatory, said the judge, but if Bell ends up behind bars, he also faces up to three years of post-release control. Bell could go back behind bars for up to one-half of the original sentence if he violates the conditions of the post-release control. For the dissemination charge, Bell faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

No person . . . having custody or control . . . of a child under eighteen years of age . . . shall create a substantial risk to the health or safety of the child, by violating a duty of care, protection, or support,

The statue which gave rise to the first change reads in part

No person, with knowledge of its character or content, shall recklessly . . . [d]irectly sell, deliver, furnish, disseminate, provide, exhibit, rent, or present to a juvenile . . . any material or performance that is obscene or harmful to juveniles.

Reads the statute involving the second charge.

Interviews

Drake Bell Plea Hearing

On June 23 2021, The news Law&Crime Network ^[2] posted an interview with Drake Bell talking about the child endearment.

Instagram Stream

Bell crooned on Instagram after pleading guilty to charges. He sang songs and played a guitar in a livestream for fans from what appeared to be the very same room where he appeared before a judge, and if not the same room, then one with a similar door and walls. ^[3] This time, he was sans the coat and tie (shown below.)

The caption on Drake Bell’s Instagram account described the livestream as a “jam.” The majority of commenters were effusive, often commenting with a heart emoji or with emojis containing faces with hearts as eyes. A scant few mentioned the criminal case that emerged this month. But they were there.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References