Former Glee star Mark Salling has pleaded guilty to the possession of child pornography according to reports from Us Weekly.
The plea agreement states that Salling has consented to four to seven years in jail. Aside from just spending time behind bars, Salling will also be registered as a sex offender and cannot communicate with anyone under the age of 18 unless they are given parental consent. After his release he is required to stay 100 feet away from spots that children often populate including schoolyards, parks, public swimming pools, playgrounds and video arcade venues.
Thirty-five-year old Salling is required to pay monetary compensation of approximately $50,000 to each victim who has requested it and must go in for treatment in a sex offender program. Salling was immediately fired from the film Gods and Secrets following the news.
Salling was arrested in December 2015 after the Internet Crimes Against Children LAPD were sent a tip that the actor owned an extensive amount of child pornography. After a thorough investigation, authorities discovered more than 50,000 photos and videos on his laptop and another 4,000 on a separate flash drive.
The news seemingly did not come as a surprise to those closest to Salling and his ex-girlfriend and former Glee costar Naya Riviera shared in her 2016 memoir that she wasn’t “totally shocked” by the charges against him.