Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has been arrested in Florida on allegations that he possessed child sexual abuse material.
MIAMI — The 82-year-old father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was arrested Friday morning in Florida on a federal charge alleging that he possessed child sexual abuse material kept in storage units in California, authorities said.
Thomas Markle Sr. was taken into custody outside Tampa, according to people familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Federal agents searched two storage units in the Los Angeles area and seized “approximately 78 items, including slides, film negatives, and books” containing suspected child sexual abuse images, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said.
The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, was the first outlet to report Markle’s arrest.
Markle, who had rented the units since 2008, is charged with possessing child sexual abuse images, Essayli said. His arrest follows reports from The Sun, another British tabloid, that Meghan’s half brother discovered a collection of such images while clearing out their father’s home in the Philippines.
That discovery abroad led investigators to information about the storage units in the United States. According to an FBI affidavit filed in court, some of the images appear to show Markle with children.
Markle was scheduled to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon, Nov. 6, in Tampa. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could respond to the allegations.
“These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law,” Essayli said.
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Meghan, an American citizen who starred in the U.S. television drama “Suits,” married Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. The couple have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Meghan recently said she was “deeply distressed” by reports that a collection of child sexual abuse images had been found at her father’s former home. She also disclosed that a letter containing “troubling allegations” about him had been sent to London police in 2018.
“It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,” Meghan said of the letter. “I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications’ distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children was for one reason: to protect them.”
Meghan’s representative did not immediately comment Friday.
Meghan’s father, a retired television lighting and photography director, did not attend her wedding. His absence fueled extensive coverage in the British media of the estrangement between father and daughter.
Thomas Markle Sr. was living in the Philippines earlier this year when he suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated. As a result, he returned to the United States.
The Sun reported that Thomas Markle Jr. recently discovered “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sexual abuse images in boxes at his father’s former home in Cebu City, Philippines. Markle Jr. told the newspaper that he reported the images to Philippine police and contacted the FBI.
“I have supported, cared for him and helped him for years — but that stops now,” Markle Jr. said. “I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him.”