LOS ANGELES
Actor Mark Wayne Salling on Monday plead guilty to a federal offense of possessing child pornography, according to officials.
Specifically, he admitted that he possessed approximately 25,000 images of children engaged in sexual conduct, officials said.
Salling, 35, of Shadow Hills, who is best known for his role as Noah Puckerman on the television show “Glee,” plead guilty to one count of possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor, according to authorities.
In a plea agreement filed in October in United States District Court, 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.
U. S. District Judge Otis Wright II scheduled sentencing for Salling for March 7.
The child pornography charge that Salling admitted today carries a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The parties to the plea agreement have agreed that the appropriate sentence in this case is four years to seven years in federal prison, to be followed by a 20-year period of supervised release.
If Judge Wright decides to impose a sentence outside of the agreed-upon range, either party will have the option of withdrawing from the agreement, according to officials.
Once Salling completes his prison sentence and begins serving a period of supervised release, he will be required to register as a sex offender.