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Ex-sheriff's captain recalls Akron crimes
By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Aug 30, 2008
James D. Bell II, a former Akron industrialist, socialite and convicted child sex offender, has died in the custody of the Florida state prison system, authorities said.
He was 66, and was serving a 14-year sentence for a series of child sex crimes in Florida from 1996 to 1998, prison records show.
One of his victims — according to testimony from Bell's 2003 trial in Broward County Circuit Court — was 7 at the time.
A spokesman for the Florida State Attorney's Office said Bell died May 3 from cancer of the throat.
His body apparently was taken from a hospital in the state prison system to Archer Funeral Home in Lake Butler, Fla., where arrangements were made to have his remains cremated.
''No criminal activity was suspected in his death,'' a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Corrections said.
Bell's Florida prison record was lengthy, including numerous counts of indecent assault of a child under 16 and child abuse while engaging in sexual performance.
His abuse of children was documented as far back as 1977 when he was convicted in Summit County Common
Pleas Court of a series of offenses similar to those in Florida.
''When we started working on that case back then, we had 1,500 pictures he took of little girls, one as young as 3 years old, and numerous adults,'' retired Summit County Sheriff's Capt. Larry Momchilov said.
''Of course, we weren't worried about the adults. We were just worried about the kids, and we were able to identify 27 of these girls,'' Momchilov said.
Bell, at that time, was a corporate executive who rose to prominence at age 32 by heading a group of investors in buying the Portage Machine Co. in South Akron.
Shocking crimes
Mary Ann Kovach, chief counsel in the Summit County Prosecutor's Office, was a fledgling prosecutor when Bell was sent to prison here.
''People back then were shocked,'' Kovach said. ''Nobody, I don't think, would have guessed that an industrialist would have that type of a second persona.
''I remember clearly that we were not allowed to see his [criminal] file. They protected that file something fierce up here. They would not allow anyone to see it,'' Kovach said.
''I remember the rumors flying around that there were all kinds of prominent people that frequented his apartment, whom they couldn't necessarily pinpoint as having sex with the children, but engaged in other activity. It was surprising to say the least.''
Bell was sentenced in two separate Summit County trials to six to 35 years in prison, but he was released by the state's Adult Parole Authority in 1981 after serving only three years and nine months.
''I got a phone call from the news media, telling me he had just been released from prison,'' Momchilov said. ''And I remember saying: 'That can't be, not with the type of sentence he got.'
''Well, there were apparently enough people in the Akron area who sent favorable letters to the parole board, and he did get out,'' Momchilov said. ''And I remember telling the media then: 'I guarantee one thing. He's going to continue doing the same thing he did in Akron, regardless of where he goes.'
''Shortly after that, as I understood it, Jim Bell left the area and went to Florida,'' he said.
In the late 1990s, while Momchilov was working at the county jail, he said two Fort Lauderdale police officers came to talk to him about Bell.
''I said: 'Is he doing the same thing he did up here?' They said: 'Yeah, but he's getting smarter. He's not taking photos of the kids anymore, and if he is, he's getting rid of them right away,' '' Momchilov said.
Victims in Florida
Police investigations of Bell in Ohio and Florida determined that his victims numbered more than 30.
During Bell's 2003 trial in Broward County, two of his Summit County victims — 11 and 15 years old at the time of his offenses here — provided much of the damaging testimony that led to his Florida convictions.
Broward County sheriff's detectives found a link to Bell's Akron record after they caught him naked in a Fort Lauderdale La Quinta motel with two girls, ages 13 and 15, in 1998.
A check of criminal databases revealed Bell's Summit County convictions which led the Broward County detectives to contact Momchilov about what he knew of Bell's past.
It took months of long talks with the Summit County women, Momchilov said, before he was able to persuade them to testify against Bell in the Florida case.
Momchilov went to Florida with the two women, who are now in their early 40s.
''They had never testified before, but they remembered everything and they cried their eyes out on the stand,'' Momchilov said, ''because it was the first time they were able to tell anyone how they were violated by Jim Bell when they were growing up.''
Momchilov said he felt sorry, in one respect, when he heard of Bell's death.
''I feel for his family, because I know they went through a lot over the years,'' he said. ''But I'm not sorry for him. It's unfortunate that he had to die in prison, but now we don't have to worry about him doing this to anyone again.''
Ed Meyer can be reached at 330-996-3784 or emeyer@thebeaconjournal.com.
James D. Bell II, a former Akron industrialist, socialite and convicted child sex offender, has died in the custody of the Florida state prison system, authorities said.
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