Following his child endangerment conviction and his sentencing to two years probation, former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell is speaking out about his case.
00:00A lot of the news that you've been hearing, well, most of the news that you've heard recently is entirely false and wrong.
00:07Following his child endangerment conviction and his sentencing to two years probation,
00:11former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell is speaking out about his case.
00:15In a video message posted to his Instagram, Bell clarified some rumors surrounding him over the last year and addressed his guilty plea.
00:22I feel that you deserve and I owe you an explanation.
00:25In July, Bell was sentenced to two years probation on child endangerment charges
00:30and 200 hours of community service for his conduct with a young fan who he met online and then in person that spanned years.
00:38According to the victim, the former Drake and Josh star began contact with her online when she was 12,
00:43with those communications escalating to material that was, quote, blatantly sexual by the time she was 15.
00:49Bell addressed the sentencing in his video saying,
00:52I know this has all moved very quickly for you, but for me, it's been a three-year thorough investigation into every false claim that has been made.
01:00And it's not me telling you that the claims are false, but the state of Ohio has proven the claims to be false.
01:06If these claims were remotely true, my situation would be very different.
01:10I would not be here at home with my wife and my son.
01:14Bell stated, I'm not perfect and I make mistakes and called his behavior reckless and irresponsible,
01:19while outlining his version of the story.
01:22I responded to a fan whose age I didn't know.
01:26Yet when I became aware of their age, all conversation and communication stopped.
01:32He continued, this individual continued to come to shows and pay for meet and greets,
01:37and although I was unaware that this was the same person I was communicating with online,
01:41that's what I pled guilty to.
01:42Bell had initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, but then pleaded guilty after reaching a plea deal.
01:48Bell also addressed his misdemeanor charge, which was related to inappropriate social media messages,
01:53denying any explicit images or that anything physical had occurred.
01:57I was not charged with disseminating of photographs or images or anything like that.
02:03This is strictly over text messages.
02:06Bell ended his message by claiming reports of his case were clickbait and thanked his fans for sticking by him.
02:12To watch the full video, head to THR.com.
02:15And for more updates to this story, keep watching The Hollywood Reporter News.
Be the first to comment