Mark Salling’s child pornography victims will reportedly lose out on compensation due to his suicide on Tuesday (30Jan18).
The Glee star, 35, was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography involving a pre-pubescent minor last year (17).
According to TMZ.com, under the terms of Salling’s plea deal he agreed to pay victims $50,000 each in restitutional damages.
However, in order to impose the penalty the Los Angeles judge trying his case had to impose a sentence upon him, and as he hanged himself before his sentencing hearing in March (18), the judge does not have the power to demand payment.
Editors at the gossip site report that his victims and their families could sue his estate to recover the damages.
Salling was found dead in a park near his home in Sunland, California on Tuesday, having hanged himself. His family reported him missing before his death.
Prosecutors found more than 50,000 images of child porn and child erotica on his laptop computer and a flash memory drive during a 2015 raid on his home.
Salling pleaded guilty to the charges in December (17), and he was facing four to seven years in jail and 20 years of supervision after his release.
His family confirmed his death in a statement, which read, “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 Salling family appreciates the support they have been receiving and asks for their privacy to be respected.”
The disgraced actor played Noah ‘Puck’ Puckerman in Glee for the entirety of its 2009 to 2015 run. He also starred in a 2011 concert movie based on the series.
