Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell has been arrested on charges of possessing more than 100 videos of child pornography, authorities said. On Wednesday, a search warrant was served at the 49-year-old’s home in California’s Sacramento County, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Thursday.
FAMED CARTOONIST ARRESTED FOR POSSESSION OF CHILD SEX ABUSE MATERIAL (CHILD PORNOGRAPHY)
Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Detectives (ICAC) conducted an investigation stemming from a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)… pic.twitter.com/PYpXozrvwk
— Sacramento Sheriff (@sacsheriff) January 16, 2025
During the search, authorities discovered 134 videos of Child Sex Abuse Material (CSAM) linked to the account, which is owned and controlled by Bell. The videos also included some computer-generated content, they added.
“Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Detectives (ICAC) conducted an investigation stemming from a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) related to someone uploading Child Sex Abuse Material (CSAM), also referred to as child pornography. The tip was related to 18 files containing CSAM,” read the statement.
Bell was taken into custody after the search and is being held on $1 million bail at the Sacramento County Main Jail. He has been charged with two felonies in connection with the possession of child sex abuse material, The New York Times reported.
This was also the first time authorities in Sacramento County charged someone with the possession of computer-generated child sex abuse material under the new California law, which came into effect on January 1, criminalising possession of such material.
He is expected to appear in court on Friday. It was unclear whether he had an attorney.
According to NBC News, a woman, who has identified herself as Bell’s wife, said in a brief telephone call on Thursday afternoon, “Pray for me and my children.”
The Sacramento Sheriff’s office has described Bell as a “well-known cartoonist, having been featured in several prominent publications”. Bell was honoured with the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 2019, recognising his “beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration,” per the official Pulitzer website.
Bell, father to four children, is a Los Angeles native. He received the 2015 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Editorial Cartooning.