A Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist bullied by Trump — whose illustrations have been published by the Washington Post, New Yorker and Los Angeles Times — was arrested for possession of child pornography.
Darrin Bell, the first African-American to win a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning, was arrested Wednesday and booked in California’s Sacramento County after detectives from the Internet Crimes Against Children Unit were tipped off by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children , law enforcement. officials said.
In a search of Bell’s home, detectives found 134 child pornography videos linked to an account owned and controlled by the 49-year-old married father of four, as well as AI-generated child pornography from the computer, authorities said Thursday.
A disturbing cartoon Bell created was posted on his X account in 2022 and resurfaced on the social media platform after his arrest. Titled “The Groomer,” it shows an elephant-like person grooming a group of children in front of a mirrored display case, which reflects the word “FANTAKT” tattooed on the subjects’ chests.
Bell’s most popular illustrations have touched on politics, culture and race and have been broadcast in mainstream media outlets across the country.
The Pulitzer Prize committee hailed Bell for “beautiful and bold editorial cartoons that addressed issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out the lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration” in awarding him the prize honored in 2019.
His work is distributed through King Features Syndicate, which handles famous cartoons such as Popeye, Dennis the Menace and Beetle Bailey.
Bell is also the creator of a comic strip called “Candorville,” which launched in 2003 and is syndicated through The Washington Post Writers Group, allowing his work to appear in newspapers across the country.
The Washington Post declined to comment on Bell’s arrest. The Post reached out to King Features for comment.
The Northern California resident is currently in custody and is being held on $1 million bail, according to the Sacramento Valley Sheriff’s Office.
He will appear in court on Friday at 15:00 local time.
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Image Source : nypost.com