Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell was confirmed “protected” on Thursday after being declared lacking, in response to the Daytona Seashore Police Division.
This is a rundown of precisely what occurred, who the 36-year-old is and what he’d been doing since he emerged as a star of the present Drake and Josh.
Why is Bell all of the sudden within the information?
Florida’s Daytona Seashore Police Division introduced Thursday morning that it was searching for Bell (born Jared Drake Bell), the previous youngster star who started his profession with small elements in Jerry Maguire, Seinfeld and Excessive Constancy, earlier than turning into a daily performer on Amanda Bynes’s The Amanda Present in 1999 and starring in Drake and Josh starting in 2004. That present, on which he additionally sang the theme tune and contributed to the soundtrack, lasted till 2007.
“Officers are searching for Jared Bell, DOB 06/27/1986,” the division posted on Fb. “He ought to be touring in a 2022 gray BMW and his final recognized location is doubtlessly the realm of Mainland Excessive College on 4/12/2023 simply earlier than 9 p.m. He’s thought-about lacking and endangered. If the place he’s or have any data, please contact Detective Jayson Wallace.”
In response to some feedback, the division clarified: “For these asking, it is a professional put up from the Daytona Seashore Police Division.”
One in every of Bell’s former co-stars, Yvette Nicole Brown was asking for assist in finding him.
However, about three hours after their preliminary name for assist, officers gave an replace, which they confirmed to Yahoo Leisure: “Presently, we will verify legislation enforcement officers are involved and Mr. Bell is protected.”
Bell posted his response to the hubbub on social media a few hours later. “You allow your telephone within the automobile and do not reply for the evening and this?” he wrote, subsequent to a laughing emoji.
What has Bell achieved since his time on Drake and Josh?
Professionally, he continued to launch music, together with an album simply this yr. He starred in live-action variations of the animated present The Pretty Odd Mother and father and did voice work, most notably that of Spider-Man on video video games and TV sequence. He popped up as his most well-known character on exhibits similar to iCarly and Zoey 101 and later as himself on actuality TV competitions like Cupcake Wars and The Problem: Champs vs. Stars.
In his private life, like many different former youngster stars, Bell has struggled through the years. He reportedly entered outpatient therapy for substance abuse in January. Folks reported on the time that Bell and Janet Von Schmeling, his spouse since 2018 and the mom of his son, had been separated for months.
Has Bell had earlier encounters with legislation enforcement?
Sure. He was arrested twice for DUIs, and a former girlfriend, actress Melisa Lingafelt (often known as Jimi Ono), accused him of verbally and bodily abusing her, and a good friend of hers mentioned she had known as the cops. Bell mentioned this was unfaithful, calling the claims “a misguided quest for more cash or consideration.”
Then, in June 2021, Bell was charged with tried endangering youngsters and disseminating matter dangerous to juveniles, after he “developed a relationship” on-line with a teen and despatched her “inappropriate social media messages,” culminating in a December 2017 live performance that he carried out in Cleveland, Ohio, prosecutors mentioned. A girl, who was then 19, mentioned that she had met Bell when she was solely 12, and that, when she was 15, he sexually assaulted her a number of occasions. “He was such an enormous a part of my childhood, and in return, he ruined my life,” she mentioned whereas giving her sufferer affect assertion in 2021. “Each evening I dread going to sleep as a result of I do not wish to see him in my nightmares.”
Bell initially pleaded not responsible however later modified his plea to responsible, as a part of a plea deal. He maintained that he had been unaware of the woman’s age, and mentioned there had been no sexual contact between them.
In July 2021, he prevented jail when he was sentenced to 2 years of probation and 200 hours of neighborhood service. He mentioned the occasions two months afterward social media.
“I wanna clarify that there have been no sexual photos, nothing bodily between me and this particular person. I used to be not charged with something bodily. I used to be not charged with disseminating images or photos or something like that,” he mentioned on the time. “That is strictly over textual content messages, and after I was offered with a plea deal, due to the messages, I felt that it was one of the simplest ways to get this over shortly and for everyone concerned to get to maneuver on. And for me to get again doing what I like and that is making music for you. And I wish to thanks … to everybody who noticed by way of the lies and did their analysis and checked out my case and noticed it for what it was as an alternative of all this media confusion. And, , do not imagine the media proper off the bat, , it is a number of clickbait. Do your personal analysis and are available to your personal conclusions. And I simply wish to say thanks to all of you … for sticking by me. And I like you. And I’ll see you quickly.”
This story was initially revealed at 12:27 p.m. April 13, 2023.
