2001 Lake Highlands High School graduate Mark Salling faces federal child pornography charges. (John Shearer/AP)
Mark Salling, up until last December, was the pride of Lake Highlands. The 2001 LHHS graduate starred on the hit show “Glee” and released a solo album before allegedly badly blowing up his life by being found in possession of a bunch of child pornography.
This past week Salling, whose family still lives here in Lake Highlands, pleaded not guilty to federal pornography charges Friday and had his internet usage and travel severely restricted, according to the Associated Press:
“U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella A. Oliver ruled Mark Salling can be released after he posts $150,000 bail, including $100,000 of his own money to guarantee future court appearances. Salling, 33, answered several questions from the judge and entered the not guilty during his court appearance, which also resulted in a July trial date being set.”
U.S. Attorney’s spokesman Thom Mrozek says in a press release that investigators found an extensive, carefully organized collection of child pornography during searches of Salling’s electronic devices. Prosecutors at first were looking to hold him without bail, but reached an agreement with Salling’s attorneys to allow it. Defense attorney Alan Eisner surrendered the actor’s passport during last week’s hearing.
For the time being, all of Salling’s internet-connected devices must be approved and monitored by federal authorities and he will wear an ankle monitor. Neither Salling nor his attorney gave comment following the hearing, and so far, though we’ve reached out to friends and family in Lake Highlands, we have not heard back from anyone regarding Salling’s situation. We will update the story as we do. (I feel pretty sure that given some time I will at least track down comments from some of his old classmates).
This makes at least two Glee stars who have allegedly done very bad things to their lives — in 2013 Salling’s co-star Cory Monteith of Los Angeles overdosed on heroin and died at age 31.
