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Jun 3, 2025  |  
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Matt Delaney


NextImg:Famous anti-Trump cartoonist charged with having child pornography on computer

A Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who rose to fame for his anti-Trump artwork will go before a California judge Friday after he was arrested on child pornography charges near Sacramento.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said authorities took Darrin Bell, 49, into custody after detectives discovered 134 videos of child sex abuse materials linked to an account that uploaded the content online.

Police said the search also uncovered AI-generated child pornography tied to Mr. Bell.



The sheriff’s office said he was booked into the Sacramento County jail on a $1 million bond Wednesday.

Mr. Bell became the first Black man to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 2019.

The prize board said he was awarded the Pulitzer for his “beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration.”

Artwork highlighted by the prize board, all dating from 2018, include cartoons depicting Mr. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin fleeing police together, Rudy Giuliani selling his soul to denigrate former adult film star Stormy Daniels, and an image that appears to reference the 2014 police killing of Gregory Hill Jr. inside his Florida home.

Mr. Bell’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Oakland Tribune and other publications.

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His editorial cartoons were syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group from 2013 to 2018, when Mr. Bell became syndicated with King Features Syndicate.

His regular comic strip, “Candorville,” is still syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group. His former comic, “Ruby Park,” was also syndicated with the group until he discontinued the comic in 2017.

Mr. Bell received the 2016 Berryman Award for Editorial Cartooning and the 2015 RFK Award for editorial cartooning.

He has said he wants his work to inspire people to treat each other with more respect and dignity.

The sheriff’s office said the Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Against Children Detectives led the investigation into Mr. Bell after they received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

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The tip suggested files containing child sex abuse material had been traced to a computer belonging to Mr. Bell, according to authorities.

The sheriff’s office said Mr. Bell is the first person to be charged with possession of AI-generated child pornography. The law took effect Jan. 1.

• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.