Darrin Bell, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, arrested on child pornography charges
Darrin Bell, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist whose satirical designs have decorated papers for years, was arrested in California Wednesday after authorities said they discovered a cache of child pornography in his home, the Sacramento Country Sheriff's Office reports.
The "Candorville" creator, 49, was arrested by sheriff’s detectives after a months-long investigation that began with a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Authorities reportedly discovered over 100 child pornography videos, some of which were artificial intelligence-generated, in Bell's possession. The discovery came after Bell allegedly had been connected to an online account that shared 134 videos of sexual abuse involving minors.
Bell is being held at Sacramento's main jail on two felony counts with the bail set at $1 million, according to inmate records. He is scheduled to appear in court Friday.
His arrest, under an amended California law that bars the possession of computer-generated child sex abuse material, marks a first for Sacramento County. The law was widened to include AI material and went into effect on Jan. 1 of this year.
A California native, Bell began his comic career with features in mainstay Golden State papers like The Daily Californian, The Los Angeles Times and The San Francisco Chronicle. His characters graduated to the national stage in 2003 when "Candorville" began appearing in The Washington Post. The Washington Post Group syndicated his work.
Bell won a Pulitzer Prize in 2019 for his work in editorial cartooning. The Pulitzer organization called his work "beautiful and daring" and lauded him for "editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration."
An oft-critic of Trump and his hold on the Republican Party, Bell's work was known for a biting tone. Paste BN has syndicated his cartoons in the past.