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Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist Darrin Bell was arrested Wednesday in California on charges of possession of child pornography, some of which was allegedly generated by artificial intelligence, police said.
Bell, 49, was arrested at his home and booked into Sacramento County jail after police discovered more than 100 videos related to child sex abuse connected to an account that Bell owned and controlled.
According to the Sacramento County sheriff’s office, detectives from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program previously received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about someone who had uploaded 18 files containing child sex abuse material, or child pornography. After an investigation into the tip, the detectives discovered 134 videos of that material uploaded by an account owned and controlled by Bell.
On Wednesday, police issued a residential search warrant at Bell’s home, where they discovered evidence related to the case, including “computer-generated/AI” child pornography, according to the sheriff’s office.
Bell was in custody Thursday and is scheduled to appear in court Friday, the sheriff’s office said.
Representatives for Bell could not be reached for comment.
This was the first arrest by the Sacramento Valley’s Internet Crimes Against Children detectives unit related to possession of AI-generated content since a new California law ordered possession of AI-generated content to be deemed a criminal offense, according to the sheriff’s office.
Bell is a famed cartoonist and comic strip creator whose works have appeared in many news outlets, including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. Amy Lago, his editor and vice president of licensing and syndication at Counterpoint Media, declined to comment.
One of Bell’s more notable works is “Candorville,” a daily comic strip that features young Black and Latino characters living in a city. Collections of the nationally syndicated comic strip, which often offers social and political commentary, have been published as books. He also cocreated “Rudy Park,” a syndicated comic strip no longer in production that focused on current events.
“Candorville,” distributed by King Features, appears in newspapers nationwide, including the Anchorage Daily News print newspaper and e-editions. The feature has been suspended from the ADN comics lineup starting Friday.
Counterpoint Media said in a statement Thursday that Bell has been suspended from contributing to its daily newsletter. But reruns of “Rudy Park” would continue to be distributed for now.
“While we are aware that the American system of justice presumes innocence until proven guilty, we feel it necessary to suspend Mr. Bell from future contributions to Counterpoint until more is known about the charges,” the media group said in a statement.
Bell got his start at the University of California at Berkeley, where he drew cartoons for the school’s newspaper, the Daily Californian.
He became the first Black journalist to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 2019. His winning cartoons that year “took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration,” according to the Pulitzer Prizes.
In 2023, Bell created a visual memoir, called “The Talk,” which focused on how racial injustice and public moments in childhood can help shape adulthood. The book’s publisher, Macmillan, said in a statement Thursday it is “aware of the arrest of Darrin Bell. These are disturbing allegations, and we take this matter extremely seriously. At this time, we are allowing due process to take its course and will take appropriate action as we get more confirmed information.”