Actor Mark Salling, who played Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman on the popular TV show Glee has been found dead in Los Angeles. He was 35 years old.
The actor pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography charges in December and was awaiting sentencing. The actor had been reported missing earlier on Tuesday. He was due to be sentenced in early March and was facing a prison sentence of four to seven years, plus he would have also have had to register as a sex offender.
He was arrested in 2015, when police acting on a tip-off found 50,000 images of child pornography on his computer, plus an additional 4,000 images on a flash drive.
Salling’s lawyer Michael J. Proctor also confirmed the newsof the actor’s death in a statement to EW.
“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 said.
“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.”
Tim Davis who was the vocal coach on Glee posted a series of messages to Twitter asking people to be respectful in their comments about the actor’s death.
“Today we lost another #Glee cast member.Yes, he committed crimes against children.Yes, it’s horrific. But #MarkSalling was a broken man, no doubt an abuse victim himself. I loved Mark, and am sad when I consider the devastation of his parents. PLEASE withhold your cruel comments.
“Let me be clear. Having compassion for #MarkSalling in no way minimizes his crimes, nor does it minimize the pain and devastation of the victims of those crimes. I’m just saying stop adding to his family’s pain. This was their son. If you’re without sin, feel free to cast stones.” Davis posted.
Salling was part of the successful show from 2009 to 2015, the show’s success included spin-offs into recordings and concert tours.
The actor is not the first cast member of Glee to pass away, colleague Cory Monteith died of a toxic mix of alcohol and heroin in 2013.
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