WEST HOLLYWOOD—Actor Drake Bell, 34, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted child endangerment at a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, June 23. Bell has been charged with multiple crimes involving a 15-year-old girl.
Bell pled guilty to attempted endangering children, a fourth-degree felony, and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, a first-degree misdemeanor. He was charged at the Cuyahoga County court in Ohio, near where the alleged incident occurred.
Prosecutors said that the alleged victim filed a report with her local police department in Canada in 2018. The incident happened in 2017 at a nightclub in Cleveland, Ohio, on Old River Road in the city’s East Bank of The Flats District. Investigators discovered that the victim established a relationship with Bell several years prior and attended his Cleveland concert in December 2017.
Bell allegedly sent inappropriate messages on social media to the victim months before the concert. The prosecutor’s office said at the concert, “Bell violated his duty of care and, in doing so, created a risk of harm to the victim.” Canadian authorities contacted the Cleveland Police Division, who handled the investigation, which lead to the charges and Bell’s arraignment on June 3. He has been out on a $2,500 bond since then.
Bell will be sentenced on July 12 at 12 p.m. He could face up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
