Pulitzer Prize winning Cartoonist Arrested for Computer-Generated/AI CSAM
Photo: Stock Image
Darrin Bell, 49, a 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning satirical cartoonist, was arrested Wednesday morning in Sacramento.
SACRAMENTO, CALIF — “Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Detectives (ICAC) conducted an investigation stemming from a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) related to someone uploading Child Sex Abuse Material (CSAM), also referred to as child pornography. The tip was related to 18 files containing CSAM. The investigation continued, and a total of 134 videos of CSAM were located and linked to the same account, owned and controlled by 49-year-old Darrin Bell.
ICAC Detectives served a residential search warrant at Bell’s home. Detectives recovered evidence related to the case, as well as computer-generated/AI CSAM. Bell was subsequently arrested and booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail for the possession of CSAM. He is currently in custody being held on $1 million bail and is scheduled to appear in court on January 17.
This case was the first arrest by Sacramento Valley ICAC where possession of computer-generated/AI CSAM was charged against a suspect (the law changed on January 1, 2025, to include AI-generated material as a criminal offense). His booking photo is not available for public release, per California law.”
Bell is a well-known cartoonist, having been featured in several prominent publications. In 2019 Bell received a Pulitzer Prize-winning American editorial cartoonist and comic strip creator known for the syndicated satirical comic strips Candorville and Rudy Park. He is a syndicated editorial cartoonist with King Features. (His editorial cartoons were formerly syndicated by the Washington Post, according to Wikipedia.
