UPDATE: At 1:26 p.m. ET on Thursday, actor Drake Bell was confirmed to be “safe” and in contact with law enforcement officials, the Daytona Beach Police Department reported.
Bell was originally “considered missing and endangered,” the Daytona Beach Police Department announced in a Facebook post Thursday morning. Police did not provide further information when contacted by Variety, nor did Bell’s manager immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bell addressed his disappearance later on Thursday, writing on Twitter: “You leave your phone in the car and don’t answer for the night and this?” with a laughing emoji.
According to the original police report, Bell, whose real name is Jared Drake Bell, was seen traveling in a 2022 gray BMW and “his last known location is potentially the area of Mainland High School on 4/12/2023 just before 9 p.m.” Daytona Beach police are asking the public to provide any information on Bell’s whereabouts by contacting Detective Jayson Wallace at 386-671-5207.
Bell, 36, rose to fame opposite Josh Peck in the hit Nickelodeon series “Drake & Josh,” which ran for four seasons and 56 episodes between 2004 and 2007. The actor was a cast member on the network’s “The Amanda Show” prior to leading his own series. After “Drake & Josh,” Bell stayed with Nick and played Timmy Turner in a live-action “The Fairly OddParents” trilogy.
Back in June 2021, Bell pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to endanger children and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. He was later sentenced to two years’ probation and 200 hours of community service
The charges stemmed from an incident that took place between a then-31-year-old Bell and a 15-year-old girl in December 2017. Police said at the time that the meeting between the two followed months of social media messages that were “at times … sexual in nature.”
In 2015, Bell was arrested for a DUI with bail set at $20,000. In that case, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and spent four days in jail.
