Thomas Markle, the estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was arrested Friday in Florida over allegations he possessed child sexual abuse material, including sexually explicit photographs of himself with minors, the Justice Department said.
He is charged with one count of possession of child pornography, according to a criminal complaint.
The FBI seized approximately 78 items from two storage units rented by Markle that contained “suspected child pornography,” according to court documents. Items seized include film negatives depicting an adult male with naked “pre-pubescent” girls, and a witness “positively identified the adult male as Markle,” according to the documents.
Markle, 82, is expected to make her first appearance Friday in U.S. Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa, the Justice Department said.
“These allegations are extremely serious and we will pursue Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law,” First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement.
“Working with our partners at the Department of Justice, our agents acted quickly, identified and located the explicit material, and arrested Mr. Markle in Florida,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.
His arrest comes weeks after Philippine authorities said they were investigating allegations that he kept images of child sexual abuse in his home while living there. The country’s authorities later said they had recovered thousands of photos depicting “underage men and women.”
Markle, a retired television lighting and photography director, denied the allegations last month, calling them “sick lies.”
A spokesperson for Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, declined to comment on the arrest. Buckingham Palace did not respond to a request for comment.
In a criminal complaint, the FBI said Markle had rented the two storage units in California since the summer of 2008. One of the units contained mail bearing Thomas Markle’s name and an international driver’s license with his name, date of birth and a photo appearing to be him.
The FBI seized 27 items from one unit and 51 from the other. Some of the seized film negatives, books and slides are still being examined.
At least 18 images made from converted negatives “appeared to constitute child pornography,” according to the complaint. At least two images involved an adult, a clothed man and a naked child, the complaint states. A witness identified the man in the footage as Markle, the FBI said.
The FBI determined that some of the seized film was manufactured in New York and therefore may have been transported to California in interstate commerce. Based on the background of one photo, the FBI determined the images were taken at a hotel in the Philippines, according to the court document.
Meghan said in a statement last month that she was “deeply distressed” by the allegations against her father. Their relationship has been limited and strained in recent years, with her father not attending her wedding to Harry in 2018, amid widespread media scrutiny.
Her statement said she had previously been made aware of “concerning allegations” against him, with UK police later confirming they had received a letter in January 2019 “containing a number of allegations relating to alleged offenses outside the UK”.
London’s Metropolitan Police said it did not inform other law enforcement agencies of the allegations in the letter at the time, referring to Britain’s police watchdog for handling such allegations.
“The scale of what has been uncovered is more sickening than anyone could ever imagine,” said Meghan, who said she chose to keep her children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, away from her father “for one reason only: to protect them.”
Harry and Meghan stepped back as senior royals in 2020 amid widespread reports of a royal split, leaving Britain for California.
Harry, the second son of King Charles and the late Princess Diana, has leveled harsh criticism at Buckingham Palace and other members of the royal family through a series of media interviews and a tell-all memoir, “Spare.”
The couple returned to Britain two months ago and their two children were educated in the country.
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