Mark Salling, Former ‘Glee’ Star, Dies at 35

Actor awaited sentencing after pleading guilty last year to possession of child pornography

mark salling
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Mark Salling, an actor best known for playing Puck on the Fox series “Glee,” has been found dead, according to multiple media reports. He was 35.

Salling’s body was found near a riverbed in Sunland, California, according to TMZ.

Authorities have not yet confirmed the cause of death, though TMZ reported that it initially appeared to be the result of suicide.

According to TMZ, Salling was found hanging from a tree, after police were called to do a “welfare check” and discovered the actor at a baseball field.

Salling had been dead “for some time,” TMZ reported.

TheWrap has reached out to the LAPD, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles County coroner’s office for comment on Salling’s reported death.

Salling’s death came as he awaited sentencing in March after pleading guilty last October to possession of child pornography.

The actor pleaded guilty to possessing approximately 25,000 images of children engaged in sexual conduct, the U.S. department of Justice said in December.

Salling specifically pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent.

In October’s plea agreement, Salling acknowledged that he downloaded the images from the internet in 2015 and used software designed to conceal his activity.

The collection was discovered on a laptop computer, a hard drive and a USB flash drive after Salling showed some of the images to a girlfriend, who reported the matter to local enforcement, according to the justice department.

The charge that Salling pleaded to carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence, but under the plea agreement the parties agreed that a four to seven-year prison sentence would be appropriate. Following Salling’s prison term, he will be subject to a 20-year period of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.

A sentencing hearing had been set for March 7.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Salling appeared in “Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering” and “The Graveyard” before being cast in 2008 as a series regular on “Glee” as Noah “Puck” Puckerman.

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