Former Pittsburgh Steelers All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell was arrested Sunday in Jackson Township, Ohio, hours after signing autographs at a mall meet-and-greet — a jarring bookend to a day that started with fans and ended with a holding cell.
Bell, 34, was taken into custody July 19 by the Jackson Township Police Department and booked into the Stark County jail on a “courtesy hold for another agency,” according to inmate records accessed by USA TODAY through the Stark County Sheriff’s Office app. That agency is the Michigan Attorney General’s office, which issued a warrant tied to unpaid child support for Bell’s child in Michigan.
Bell had appeared earlier that day at Belden Village Mall for an autograph signing. By evening, he was behind bars.
His attorney, Thomas Shaffer, told the Canton Repository that Bell owes more than $50,000 in child support and argued the payment guidelines are pegged to income Bell no longer earns. “Six months ago he cashed in an NFL pension to pay $50,000 in child support for that child,” Shaffer said. “His guidelines are still inaccurately being deemed based on his NFL salary and his professional boxing career. This is a revolving door because he pays a number that doesn’t reflect his true income. The issue will never end. The court needs to reflect his true income.”
In other words: the system is still calculating Bell’s obligations as though he’s pulling in a franchise-tag salary, and Bell hasn’t sniffed one since 2017.
Because here is the part that stings if you remember the player. Between 2014 and 2017, Bell was arguably the best running back in football. He averaged 1,119 rushing yards and 565 receiving yards per season. Three Pro Bowls. Two First-Team All-Pro selections. A patient, herky-jerky running style that drove defensive coordinators to distraction — the kind of back who froze linebackers at the line of scrimmage before detonating through the gap.
Then came 2018. Bell sat out the entire season over a contract dispute with the Steelers, betting on himself in free agency. The gamble backfired. He signed a four-year, $52.5 million deal with the New York Jets the following spring and was never the same. He managed 789 rushing yards in his first year in New York, struggled again in Year 2, and was released midway through the 2020 season. Brief stops in Kansas City, Baltimore, and Tampa Bay followed before he was out of the league entirely after 2021.
Per Spotrac, Bell earned just under $45.4 million over his eight-year NFL career — a fortune by any normal measure, but one stretched thin by taxes, agent fees, lifestyle, and now, apparently, support obligations calibrated to a salary that evaporated years ago.
Bell also pursued a professional boxing career after leaving the NFL, fighting on the undercard of a Jake Paul event in 2022. That venture factors into the child-support dispute, according to Shaffer, who says the court is still treating Bell’s income as if he’s an active professional athlete across two sports.
USA TODAY Sports has reached out to the Stark County Sheriff’s Office for additional details. Bell remained in custody as of Monday, July 20.
The arrest adds another chapter to a post-NFL arc that has grown increasingly difficult to watch for anyone who marveled at what Bell once was — a back with Hall of Fame talent who walked away from the Steelers’ offer, never recaptured the magic, and now finds himself in a legal revolving door over money the courts believe he owes and his lawyer says he cannot pay.
Sources:
- Yahoo Sports — Former Steelers RB Le’Veon Bell arrested in Ohio
- Yahoo NFL — Le’Veon Bell arrested in Ohio, on ‘courtesy hold for another agency’
- Yahoo NFL — Le’Veon Bell arrested in Ohio hours after meet-and-greet over reported child-support payments