Father of Duchess of Sussex arrested in Florida on child sexual abuse material charges

Thomas Markle, the 82-year-old father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was arrested by FBI agents at a senior care facility in Polk County, Florida, early on Friday and charged with possession of child sexual abuse material. He made a brief initial appearance in federal court in Tampa the same afternoon.

A 14-page federal criminal complaint alleges Markle kept the material in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented for nearly two decades. Agents seized approximately 78 items — dozens of slides, photographs, film negatives and books — and the complaint alleges the collection included sexually explicit photographs of Markle himself with prepubescent girls. An affidavit filed in California states that two of the images showed a man a witness identified as Markle with a nude underage girl. The FBI is still reviewing what it recovered.

First assistant U.S. attorney Bill Essayli said in a Justice Department statement that there was no evidence of victims in the United States based on the seized material, though the investigation is ongoing. FBI director Kash Patel thanked authorities in Mexico, the Philippines and the Marshall Islands for their part in the investigation, and said a predator who targets children "will have zero safe haven in this country or anywhere they try to hide."

The Philippines connection predates the arrest. Meghan said last month she was "deeply distressed" by allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images was found at her father's former home there, after the Sun published claims from her half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, who said he found the stash at the residence. Markle Jr was named as a person of interest in the case this week. Meghan also revealed that a letter containing "troubling allegations" about her father was sent to police in London in 2018. Markle did not attend his daughter's wedding to Prince Harry that year, and she has since distanced herself from him.

The case now proceeds through ordinary federal process: a court-appointed lawyer whom the Associated Press could not reach, a complaint with redactions, a defendant in a senior care facility. Essayli said his office was aware of public reporting that Markle might have dementia. The charge carries up to 20 years in federal prison.