Skip to main content
Partly Cloudy icon
53º

Former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell found safe after going missing in Central Florida

FILE - Drake Bell appears at the world premiere of "The Spy Who Dumped Me" in Los Angeles on July 25, 2018. Bell is scheduled to be sentenced Monday, July 12, 2021 in Cleveland to charges relating to a teen whom he met online and who attended one of his concerts in 2017 when she was 15. The 34-year-old Bell, of West Hollywood, California, pleaded guilty last month to a felony county of attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanor count of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) (Jordan Strauss, 2018 Invision)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Daytona Beach Police Department posted an update just before 1:30 p.m. Thursday saying that Drake Bell, the former star of the popular Nickelodeon show “Drake & Josh,” was safe after being reported missing and endangered.

The police department said they were in contact with 36-year-old Jared Bell “and Mr. Bell is safe.”

Recommended Videos



Officials had earlier said his last known location was potentially the area of Mainland High School on Wednesday, April 12, just before 9 p.m.

Bell began acting as a child and was catapulted to fame as a teen with Nickelodeon’s “The Amanda Show” and later “Drake & Josh.” The Nickelodeon show starring Bell and Josh Peck ran from 2004 until 2007, and was accompanied by two movies.

Since then, Bell has mostly worked as a voice actor in addition to roles in little-seen TV series and movies. He also launched a music career.

In 2021, Bell was charged with child endangerment relating to a girl who attended a 2017 concert of his in Cleveland when she was 15 and had met him online years before. He pleaded guilty to felony attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles and was sentenced to two years’ probation. He was allowed to serve his probation and 200 hours of community service in California.