Glee actor Mark Salling has plead guilty to child pornography charges stemming from a 2015 arrest.
Authorities found more than 50,000 images and videos of child pornography on his laptop, according to The Wrap. The 4,000 images and 160 videos were found a thumb drive belonging to Salling.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The files were knowingly downloaded and “highly organized” by the 35-year-old actor, who played Puck on the FOX musical comedy.
“Salling knew that the images of child pornography that he knowingly downloaded from the internet depicted real minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” the court filing read.
Salling is facing four to seven years in prison with 20 years supervised released afterwards.
Additionally, he will register as a sex offender, undergo psychological counseling and/or treatment and pay $50,000 in restitution to each of the victims. He will also be forced to have no contact with people under the age of 18, unless the minor’s parents allow it and are aware of his crimes.
Despite masking his IP address while committing the crimes, Salling was outed and arrested after showing the explicit images to a romantic partner.
“On at least two occasions in 2015, defendant showed his child pornography to an adult woman in the context of their sexual relationship,” the court docs read. “This was ultimately reported to law enforcement.”
Salling was one of the main players in Glee throughout its six seasons. He also performed on the show’s soundtrack and concert film.
He also made appearances on The X-Factor and Walker, Texas Ranger. He was attached to the Adi Shankar film, Gods and Secrets, but was removed after his child porn crimes surfaced.
