Glee star Mark Salling pleads guilty to child pornography charges

  • 05/10/2017
Mark Salling
Mark Salling will serve almost a decade behind bars on the charges. Photo credit: Getty

A star of hit TV show Glee has negotiated a deal that will see him serving seven years behind bars for possession of child pornography.

Mark Salling, who played football player Noah 'Puck' Puckerman on the six-season Fox show, pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday (local time) on a plea deal.

The 35-year-old was arrested in May, 2016, after police found over 50,000 images on his computer, including pictures containing a pre-pubescent child.

Deadline reports that Salling was initially facing 20 years jail time, but under the negotiated plea deal, he will serve up to seven years in prison. On his release, he will face a lifetime of supervised release.

Salling was ordered to pay US$50,000 to each affected child featured in the photos, and also agreed not to have any communication with any person under the age of 18 unless their legal guardian is present. He was also ordered to stay away from venues frequented by children such as schools and "video arcade facilities".

Salling was set to appear in 2017 show Gods and Secrets, but was quickly dropped after his indictment last year.

Newshub.