FBI agents arrested Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in Florida on Friday on one federal count of possessing child sexual abuse material, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
The arrest followed FBI searches of two storage units that Markle rented in the Los Angeles area, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Page Six. Agents searched the units on Oct. 30 and Nov. 4 and seized about 78 items. That figure covers everything agents took from the units; the filing identifies only some of the items as suspected of containing child sexual abuse imagery.
The complaint alleges that two images appear to show Markle alongside an underage girl. A witness who has known Markle since the 1970s identified him as the adult in the images, according to the filing. The federal charge alleges possession; prosecutors did not announce a separate charge involving contact with the girl.
Agents took Markle, 82, into custody at Maravida Senior Living in Lakeland, where he had been living, the Daily Mail first reported. He moved to Florida from Cebu in the Philippines in May after suffering a stroke and undergoing surgery to amputate his left leg.
The California searches came after a separate inquiry became public in the Philippines in October. Markle's son, Thomas Markle Jr., said he found suspected child sexual abuse material in boxes containing family belongings at his father's Cebu home and turned it over to local police.
"When I found this material, I was horrified, and I had no option but to report my dad," the younger Markle told The Sun.
His father denied those allegations before the FBI arrested him. "I'm shocked, I'm hurt and I'm very upset that my son is making these accusations against me," he told the Daily Mail. His remarks addressed his son's account in the Philippines, rather than the evidence described in the U.S. complaint.
In October, the FBI told USA TODAY it was aware of the allegations and would assist Philippine authorities as appropriate. Philippine investigators subsequently named the younger Markle a person of interest in their inquiry. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said authorities were not treating him as a suspect at that stage, The Guardian reported Thursday.
The duchess did not comment on Friday's arrest, according to USA TODAY. In an Oct. 23 statement about the Philippine investigation, she said earlier allegations involving her father had informed her decision to keep him from having contact with her children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
"My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed," Meghan said in that statement. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the arrest and referred inquiries to the Sussexes.
