Mark Salling takes his own life

30 January 2018

Mark Salling has taken his own life.

Mark Salling

The 'Glee' star - who was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography - passed away on Tuesday morning (30.01.18).

His family said in a statement to The Blast: "I can confirm that Mark Salling passed away early this morning. Mark was a gentle and loving person, a person of great creativity, who was doing his best to atone for some serious mistakes and errors of judgment. He is survived by his mother and father, and his brother. The Salling family appreciates the support they have been receiving and asks for their privacy to be respected."

TMZ reports that Salling - who was 35-years-old - was said to have been found near a riverbed in Sunland, where he lived. He is thought to have died by hanging.

Back in December, Salling pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography. He struck a plea deal in October, where it was agreed they would ask a judge to sentence him to between four and seven years behind bars. Salling - who could've faced up to 20 years with a maximum sentence - was expected to be sentenced in March after prosecutors found more than 50,000 child porn images in his possession.

Salling's attorney Michael Proctor said in a statement at the time: "Mark is focused on accepting responsibility and attempting to atone for his conduct."

The TV star - who played the part of Noah 'Puck' Puckerman on the series from 2009 until 2015 - was first arrested back in December 2015, when police were given a tip off that he was in possession of images of children being abused.

And after a police investigation, thousands of inappropriate images were ultimately found on his computer. Subsequently, he was charged with two counts of receiving and possessing images of child sexual abuse in May last year but in October he entered into the plea deal with California's district attorney.

Due to the the terms of the agreement, Salling was meant to be subject to 20 years supervised release and was expected to be given strict restrictions on his contact with under-18s. He was also expected to register as a sex offender and pay around $50,000 in restitution to his victims.