Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested Friday morning in Lakeland on a charge of possessing child sexual abuse material in storage units in California, authorities said.
Markle Sr. was arrested at a nursing home in Lakeland, according to reports. His arrest followed the seizure of "approximately 78 items, including slides, film negatives, and books” that contained suspected child sexual abuse images in storage in the Los Angeles area, said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
Some images appear to depict him with children, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court.
“These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law,” Essayli said.
Phone and email messages seeking comment from his court-appointed attorney were not immediately returned. After his arrest in Polk County, Markle appeared in federal court in Tampa and was released with the condition that he be electronically monitored.
Court hearings will eventually move to California “but likely won’t happen for several weeks at least,” the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said.
The arrest follows reports by The Sun, another British tabloid, that Meghan’s half brother found a collection of such images while clearing out their father's home in the Philippines.
That overseas discovery led to information about the U.S. storage units. Some images appear to depict Markle Sr. with children, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court.
Markle has rented both storage units since 2008, authorities said.
“Mr. Markle allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. "Working with our Justice Department partners, our agents moved quickly, identified and located the explicit material, and arrested Mr. Markle in Florida.
"This FBI will use every single resource at our disposal to protect innocent kids – any predator who targets children will have zero safe haven in this country or anywhere they try to hide. Thank you to FBI Los Angeles, FBI Tampa, our Mexico, Manila, and Marshall Islands Law Enforcement Attaches, and our partners who executed quickly in this case.”
Meghan, an American citizen who starred in the U.S. television drama “Suits,” married Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. They have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
She recently said she was “deeply distressed” by allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images had been found at her father’s former home. She also revealed that a letter containing “troubling allegations” about him had been sent to police in London in 2019.
“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.”
There was no immediate comment from Meghan’s representative on Friday, and Buckingham Palace is not expected to say anything about the arrest.
Meghan's father, a retired television lighting and photography director, did not attend the wedding, prompting extensive coverage in the British media of Meghan’s estrangement from her father.
Markle Sr. was living in the Philippines earlier this year when he suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated. That forced him to return to the U.S.
The Sun reported that Thomas Markle Jr. recently found “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sex abuse images in boxes at his father’s former home in Cebu City, in the Philippines. Markle Jr. told The Sun that he reported the images to police in the Philippines 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.”
