Darrin Bell, a Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and longtime critic of conservatives, has been arrested on charges of possessing and creating child pornography, as reported by The Blaze.
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Bell, 49, was taken into custody at his home in Sacramento, California, after investigators discovered a cache of 134 child pornographic videos, including AI-generated material.
The arrest followed a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which flagged uploads of explicit material to an account linked to Bell. According to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office, the account "owned and controlled" by Bell was used to distribute 18 files of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Detectives executed a search warrant at his home and recovered the illicit files, marking the first arrest under California's new law targeting AI-generated CSAM, effective January 2025. Bell is currently being held at the Sacramento County Jail with bail set at $1 million.
Bell is no stranger to controversy. He spent nearly 20 years as a cartoonist with the Washington Post Writers Group, leaving in March 2023, and is currently affiliated with King Features Syndicate, a Hearst Corporation division.
His political cartoons, often aimed at former President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, gained widespread attention for their inflammatory content.
The cartoonist has never shied away from incendiary rhetoric. In 2020, Bell declared on social media:
"Donald Trump, like his friend Jeffrey Epstein, is a predator who grooms his victims."
He repeatedly accused Trump and his supporters of grooming behavior, a term he weaponized in his work to smear conservatives. Bell's cartoon titled "The Groomer" depicted the GOP's elephant symbol cornering children -- an accusation many saw as grotesque projection, given the charges he now faces.
Bell's body of work frequently targeted conservative figures, including Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom he mocked during the justice's confirmation hearings.
In his social media posts, Bell often referred to Trump supporters as akin to Nazis and described the former president as a "racist, treasonous, autocrat-admiring career criminal."
The irony of Bell's arrest isn't lost on those who have been on the receiving end of his vitriol. While he accused Republicans of moral failings, his alleged involvement in these heinous crimes points to the hypocrisy that often underpins the left's self-righteous attacks.
Bell, also known for his comic strip "Candorville," which explores social and political issues, is scheduled to appear in court on January 17. The leftist media, once eager to elevate his voice, has remained conspicuously silent on his shocking arrest.
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