Actor Mark Salling could be facing some serious prison time after entering a plea of guilty to child pornography charges today.
The ex-Glee star pleaded guilty in the case, which reportedly involved possession of material involving a prepubescent minor.
This comes over a year following his arrest, after which he appeared in an L.A. courtroom for his arraignment and pleaded not guilty.
The terms of his plea agreement state that Salling would serve 4-7 years behind bars followed by up to 20 years of supervised release.
Conditions of said release will be determined by the court.
Mark Salling will also have to register as a sex offender and participate in psychological counseling and/or enroll in a treatment program.
In June of last year, the 35-year-old was indicted on two charges of receiving and possessing child pornography on his laptop.
It was also on a hard drive and 16GB USB flash drive.
He got arrested December 29, 2015, at which point Salling’s devices were seized by investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department.
The items “contained thousands of images and videos depicting child pornography,” according to police involved with the case.
Days after Salling’s indictment, he was fired from his gig on the miniseries Gods and Secrets. He has kept a low profile since.
In May of last year, he was indicted on two charges of child pornography, which carries a possible 20-year jail term for each.
Around the time of his arraignment, court documents were obtained detailing the graphic extent of the evidence against him.
The documents contained 100,000 pages of evidence of Mark’s crimes, including photos and forensic examination results.
Yes, 100,000 pages.
“Several digital devices containing images of child pornography” are also said to exist, and that’s not even the worst part.
Salling allegedly even had a video in his possession that was purported to show a five-year-old performing a sex act.
Unbelievable.
Naya Rivera, who co-starred with him on Glee and reportedly had a fling with him back in the day, said she wasn’t surprised.
“My son’s nanny actually told me about it when the story broke,” Naya writes in her book Sorry, Not Sorry: Dreams, Mistakes and Growing Up.
“I can’t say I was totally shocked, but still – WTF? Then I had no doubt that God really did have my back along the way.”