Actor Jared Drake Bell, known for his roles as Drake in Nickelodeon’s Drake & Josh, Young Eraquis in Kingdom Hearts III, and Spider-Man in Disney’s Ultimate Spider-Man, has plead guilty to a felony charge of attempting to endanger children and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles relating to his exchanging of messages that were “sexual in nature” with an underage fan.
As reported by Variety, after pleading guilty to the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, Bell is now facing potential penalties of “up to 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine for the felony charge, and up to six months in county jail and a $1,000 fine for the misdemeanor.”
The actor could also see up to three years of “post-release control” upon the completion of his potential prison sentence.
According to previously obtained police reports, authorities were first made aware of Bell’s supposed misconduct in 2018 when his alleged victim, a 15-year-old Canadian fan, reported an “incident involving Bell that occurred the previous year in Cleveland” to her local Canadian police department.
Canadian authorities in turn relayed the information to police in Cleveland, who quickly launched an investigation into the young fan’s accusations.
Subsequently, they discovered that the victim had “established a relationship with Bell several years prior,” received a number of inappropriate social media messages from the actor in the months prior to the incident, and “attended [Bell’s] Cleveland concert in [December] 2017.”
As claimed by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, it was at this concert that the actor ”Bell violated his duty of care and, in doing so, created a risk of harm to the victim.”
Bell’s sentencing date is currently set for July 12th.
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