Melissa Lingafelt, the ex-girlfriend of Nickelodeon’s Drake and Josh star Jared Bell — also known as Drake Bell — reacted to the actor being arrested and charged with crimes against a child, stating, “I told you so.”
“Not gonna be like told you so, but….” Lingafelt, a musician who now goes by the name Jimi Ono, wrote on Instagram and TikTok, sharing photos of news headlines about Bell being arrested for attempted child endangerment, according to a report by OK! Magazine.
The former child actor is facing charges in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for allegedly disseminating matter harmful to juveniles and endangering children.
This is not the first time Lingafelt has called out her ex-boyfriend for alleged abuse and having a penchant for underage girls. She first brought it up in August 2020, in a TikTok video.
“When I started dating Drake, I was 16 — it wasn’t until about a year when the verbal abuse started,” Lingafelt had said. “And when I say verbal abuse, imagine the worst type of verbal abuse you could ever imagine, and that was what I got.”
“It then turned into physical — hitting, throwing — at the pinnacle of it, he [dragged] me down the stairs of our house,” she added. “I don’t even want to get into the underage girls thing. I mean, I will, but I’m scared.”
Bell has responded to Lingafelt’s claims by denying the allegations, telling Variety, “I never abused my ex-girlfriend or did so many of the other things Melissa falsely claimed on her TikTok video.”
“As our relationship ended — more than a decade ago — we, unfortunately, both called each other terrible names, as often happens when couples are breaking up. But that is it,” he added.
Bell was arrested by Cleveland police and appeared in Cuyahoga County Court on Thursday, reports OK! Magazine.
The incident at the heart of the case — which resulted in “serious physical harm” to the girl involved — occurred in December 2017, at Bell’s concert at the Odeon Concert Club in Cleveland’s “Flats” neighborhood, according to a report by Cleveland.com.
The former Nickelodeon star had also sent the girl “inappropriate social media messages” in the months leading up to the concert, according to a spokesperson for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malleys office. The girl came forward about the alleged incident in July 2019.
Bell is expected to plead guilty or no contest to the two counts on June 23 in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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