Drake Bell ‘Missing and Endangered,’ Daytona Beach Police Say
Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell is missing and considered in danger, according to an alert issued by the Daytona Beach Police Department on Thursday morning (April 13). In a missing person’s Facebook post, the DBPD said officers are looking for Bell (born Jared Bell), 36, who they said could be traveling in a 2022 gray BMW, which was last seen in the Daytona Beach, Fla, area around 9 p.m. on Wednesday (April 12).
The alert says that Bell is “considered missing and endangered.” Bell is best known as the star of the Nickelodeon shows Drake & Josh and The Amanda Show, as well as appearances in the network’s The Fairly OddParents films and for a series of albums released in the early and mid-2000s. His most recent LP was 2014’s rockabilly themed Ready Steady Go!, which debuted at No. 182 on the Billboard 200 album chart. At press time, spokespeople for Bell and the DBPD had not returned Billboard‘s requests for additional comment.
In July 2021, Bell was sentenced to two years’ probation in connection with child endangerment charges related to an underage girl he met online who attended several of his concerts when she was 15. Bell had pleaded guilty a month earlier to felony attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. The singer/actor was ordered to serve probation and do 200 hours of community service in California.
Officials ask anyone who has seen Bell or has any information about his current whereabouts to contact Det. Jayson Wallace at (386) 671-5207.
See the DBPD post below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard