Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Darrin Bell has been apprehended on allegations of owning child sexual assault films, including AI-generated content.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office reported receiving a warning from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the upload of 18 files containing child sexual assault recordings.
Authorities reported the discovery of 134 movies containing child sexual assault material, all associated with an account purportedly owned and managed by Bell, aged 49.
Law enforcement executed a search order at Bell’s residence in California on Wednesday, reporting the recovery of evidence pertinent to the case and computer-generated materials.
He was apprehended on charges of downloading and possessing child sexual abuse material. He is presently in detention with a bond set at $1 million and appeared in court on Friday.
The sheriff’s office stated that he is the inaugural individual to be charged in the county under a revised California statute that renders child sexual abuse material produced by artificial intelligence unlawful.
As reported by NBC News, Sky’s US affiliate, a lady claiming to be Bell’s spouse requested the broadcaster to “pray for me and my children” during a brief telephone conversation, but refrained from providing any comments.
The sheriff’s office characterised Bell as a “prominent cartoonist” who received the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in editorial cartooning as a freelancer, making him the first Black artist to receive this accolade.
The Pulitzer website stated that his “beautiful and daring editorial cartoons” addressed “issues impacting disenfranchised communities, exposing lies, hypocrisy, and fraud amid the political turmoil of the Trump administration.”
Bell, renowned for his series Candorville and Rudy Park, has had his work syndicated in national newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and Washington Post.
The Post said that it would suspend Candorville from their comics lineup following his arrest.
His website states that he commenced cartooning in 1995.
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