Drake Bell has been located and is safe, according to Daytona Beach Police Department. Officials updated their missing persons report on Thursday (April 13) that they are in contact with Bell, just hours after the former Nickelodeon star was “considered missing and endangered.”
In the initial post, DBPD noted that the 36-year-old actor (born Jared Bell) was traveling in a 2022 gray BMW, which was last seen in the Daytona Beach, Fla, area around 9 p.m. on Wednesday.
Officials have not yet revealed why Bell was deemed “endangered” or the current status of his mental or physical health.
See the updated post here.
Bell has been embroiled in controversy over the past few years. In July 2021, Bell was sentenced to two years’ probation and 200 hours of community service in connection with child endangerment charges for his conduct with a young fan, whom he met online and then in person, that spanned years.
According to the victim, the former Drake and Josh star began contact with her via online chats when she was 12, and by the time she was 15, the exchanges were “blatantly sexual.” She claimed that the two had exchanged explicit photos and on several occasions engaged in sexual conduct.
After pleading guilty, Bell took to Instagram, denying that explicit images were exchanged and that anything “physical” had occurred between him and the victim. “I responded to a fan whose age I didn’t know. When I became aware of their age, all conversation and communication stopped,” he said. “This individual continued to come to shows and pay for meet-and-greets, and although I was unaware that this was the same person I was communicating with online, that’s what I pled guilty to.”
