Drake Bell ended up getting two-year probation amid his child endangerment case.
After pleading guilty to charges, a judge sentenced Drake Bell to two years of probation.
An Ohio court announced on Monday that Bell will undergo a probation period due to attempted child endangerment and disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. The new development came after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
He will be under supervision in California and will require to have 200 hours of community service. If ever commits another crime through that period, he could receive up to one year of imprisonment on the felony charge.
Bell received the sentence after his alleged victim, who was 15 at the time, received NSFW text messages from him. The woman, reportedly, met him through her aunt.
She alleged that the former Drake & Josh star also sexually assaulted her twice. But Bell has since debunked the claims.
“Every night I dread going to sleep because I don’t want to see him in my nightmares,” she said. “He was such a huge part of my childhood, and in return he ruined my life.”
What Drake Bell’s attorney said
Following the victim’s claims, Bell’s attorney Ian Friedman said that the two truly had exchanged text messages. However, he denied that an assault ever occurred.
“What the victim is claiming to have occured here — not only am I saying that it did not happen, not only would Mr. Bell say that that did not happen, but the evidence in this case would suggest that it did not happen,” he said, as quoted by CNN.
He noted that the prosecutor’s office would pursue charges aggressively if it truly happened. However, they only addressed the charges for attempted child endangerment and disseminating matter harmful to a minor.
Meanwhile, Bell said that he accepted the plea just because he was wrong. He then said he’s sorry to his victim and clarified that it was not his intention to harm her.
His probation will be transferred to California where he currently lives.
Aside from the recent legal headache, Bell actually became subject to criticisms due to his past controversies.
In 2010, he was convicted for DUI in San Diego, California. Two years later, he was sued by Selena Gomez’s producer for not paying John Fields for the songs he produced. He claimed that Bell failed to pay around $36,000.
In 2016, he faced his second DUI as he drove through Glendale, California.
Featured image courtesy of Toglenn, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons