LOS ANGELES • A former star of musical comedy series Glee is staring at four to seven years in prison.

This fall from fame has come after Mark Salling, 35, who starred on the Fox hit show as football player Noah "Puck" Puckerman from 2009 to 2015, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

The actor will also pay US$50,000 (S$68,000) in restitution to each of the victims who request it and register as a sex offender.

According to Variety, he was nabbed for possessing child pornography in December 2015 after the authorities received a tip-off from a former girlfriend.

In May last year, he was indicted on two child pornography charges and charged with receiving and possessing child pornography on his laptop and a USB flash drive.

In a plea agreement filed with a California court on Tuesday, Salling pleaded guilty to "one felony count of possession of child pornography involving a prepubescent minor".

The filing stated that more than 50,000 images and videos of child pornography and erotica were found on his laptop, in addition to about 4,000 images and 160 videos of child pornography on his USB flash drive.