Drake Bell has been found safe after Daytona Beach police issued a statement declaring the former child star missing.
On Thursday (April 13), the Drake & Josh star - full name Jared Drake Bell - was declared "missing and endangered" by the Daytona Beach Police Department in an alarming Facebook post.
Urging anybody with information to come forward, officials for the DBPD wrote: "Officers are looking for Jared Bell, DOB 06/27/1986. He should be traveling in a 2022 grey BMW and his last known location is potentially the area of Mainland High School on 4/12/2023 just before 9PM."
"He is considered missing and endangered," the post added.
Fortunately, the department has since confirmed that officers had been put in contact with the 36-year-old actor, and that he was safe.
Us Weekly has since reported that a source close to the actor and his family has alleged that Bell "caused concern" for his loved ones prior to his disappearance. "There was some communication with family members that caused concern so they are worried about him and looking for him," the insider told the outlet.
However, the actor has broken his silence following the news that he was found safe, taking to Twitter to address his 4.3 million followers.
And it would appear as if Bell wants his fans to believe that there was never any cause for concern, as he tweeted: "You leave your phone in the car and don’t answer for the night and this? [Laughing emoji]"
Many fans were sympathetic to the situation, with one person replying: "Hey the silver lining is that means you have a lot of people that do love and care about you deeply."
However, others were irked by the actor's response, with one person tweeting: "Is this seriously how you are going to address the people's genuine concern? Well, there goes the last ounce of sympathy I had for you."
Bell shot to fame on the Nickelodeon teen comedy Drake & Josh - appearing in 56 episodes of the show between 2004 and 2007.
In the series, he played teenager Drake Parke, alongside co-stars Josh Peck and Miranda Cosgrove,
Sadly, in more recent years, the actor has made headlines for his actions off-screen.
Back in 2021, Bell pleaded guilty to two criminal counts of attempted child endangerment and disseminating matters harmful to juveniles from an incident in 2017.
"My understanding is there's been a plea agreement reached where the defendant will plead guilty to count one attempted endangering children, a felony in the fourth degree [and] plead guilty to count two: disseminating matter harmful to juveniles, a misdemeanor the first degree," the judge said at the time, per People.
According to the New York Times, the two charges relate to the relationship he had with the teenager who he met online. She later attended a concert of his in Cleveland in December 2017, it is alleged.
Following the incident, the adolescent filed a report at a police department in her home country of Canada in 2018. Per KXAN, Bell allegedly engaged in an inappropriate chat with the juvenile which at times was sexual in nature.
Bell was eventually sentenced to Bell was sentenced to two years of probation and 200 hours of community service - meaning his probation would have ended recently, per TMZ.
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