Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Former Glee actor Mark Salling has been found dead in Los Angeles. There are unconfirmed reports he took his own life. Salling, 35, was awaiting sentencing on child pornography charges.
Salling’s lawyer said in a statement provided to ABC News, “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.”
The statement added, “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.”
A law enforcement officer tells ABC News they received a missing persons report for Salling around 3:00 a.m. local time, after which they discovered his body at an undisclosed location. The investigation into Salling’s death is ongoing.
Salling is best known for playing bad boy Noah “Puck” Puckerman on Glee from 2009-2015.
Salling was indicted in May 2016 on two counts of receiving and possessing child pornography, about five months after he was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department.
At the time of his arrest, a computer, hard drive and thumb drive containing approximately 25,000 still images of child pornography, approximately 600 videos of child pornography and approximately 29,000 images of child erotica were seized from his home, according to the plea agreement.
As part of the plea agreement, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in October, the court reserved the right to impose a sentence that would include 20 years of supervised release, restitution of at least $50,000 to each victim who requests it, and other fines and fees. Salling would have also been required to register as a sex offender.
Salling was due to be sentenced in March.
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