Actor Drake Bell is speaking out about alleged sexual abuse he endured when he was a child actor working for Nickelodeon.
The allegations came to light on Tuesday when Investigation Discovery released a preview of a docuseries called Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.”
Bell, a former child star who is now 37, appears in the four-part program that is set to air on March 17 and 18 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
“The clip reveals that former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell will be sharing publicly, for the first time, the story of the abuse he suffered at the hands of Brian Peck, his former dialogue coach who was convicted in 2004 for his crimes against Drake and ordered to register as a sex offender,” Warner Bros. Discovery said in a press release shared with People.
Peck was arrested in August 2003 on charges of lewd acts with a child.
The press release went on to say that Peck was investigated after “the minor’s family reported that Peck had molested the child over a six-month period.”
At the time, detectives said they believed there could be more victims who had yet to come forward, People reported.
The sexual abuse allegedly happened when Bell was 15 years old, USA Today reported.
According to Business Insider, Peck, who was a dialogue coach and sometimes actor, pleaded no contest to performing a lewd act with a 14 or 15-year-old and to other lewd acts with a minor under 16 in May 2004.
Peck was sentenced to 16 months in prison and registered as a sex offender in October 2004.
Bell appeared in two Nickelodeon series – ‘All That” and “The Amanda Show” – and in his own series, “Drake & Josh.”
Bell had his own legal troubles several years ago. In 2021, he was sentenced to two years of probation over charges related to inappropriate communication with a girl who met him online and attended his Cleveland, Ohio, concert in 2017, when she was 15, The Washington Post reported.
Bell pleaded guilty to felony attempted child endangerment and a misdemeanor charge of disseminating matter harmful to juveniles. Bell was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service in California.
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