Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was arrested in Florida on Friday in connection with allegations that he possessed child sex abuse materials, the Justice Department announced.
The announcement came after three sources familiar with the matter confirmed the arrest to CBS News.
The Justice Department said Markle was arrested for allegedly keeping child sexual abuse material, including sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls, in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented for nearly two decades.
Markle is set for an initial court appearance Friday in Tampa, Florida.
“These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law,” Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement.
Last month, it was reported that Markle was under investigation by authorities in the Philippines for alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials. Markle has denied the claims against him, calling them “sick lies.”
“I have never downloaded anything like that in my life,” he was quoted as telling the Daily Mail.
A spokesperson for the Philippine National Police told CBS News in a statement that they launched an investigation after Markle’s personal items were turned over to law enforcement by his son, Thomas Markle Jr.
DOJ’s claims against Markle Sr.
According to an affidavit in the complaint filed in federal court, the investigation in the Philippines led law enforcement to investigate two storage units registered to Markle Sr. in the Los Angeles area that he had rented since 2008, with the most recent payments on both made last month by auto-pay.
Inside the units, agents with the FBI seized 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books that contained suspected child sexual abuse materials. Two of the images found allegedly show an adult man — who a witness identified as Markle Sr. — with a nude prepubescent girl, the affidavit said.
A third image allegedly shows a nude prepubescent girl in a room that appears to be part of a motel chain in the Philippines. Other photos allegedly show Markle Sr. with children in various stages of undress, the affidavit 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, adding: “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.”
If convicted, Markle Sr. would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
Meghan distanced herself because of allegations years ago
After the reports of the investigation were made public, Meghan, who recently moved back to Britain with her husband Prince Harry and their children, said in a statement sent to CBS News that she had been aware of the allegations against him since 2018 and that the allegations were shared with U.K. authorities at the time.
She said it was based on that information that she and Harry decided to cut her father off from contact with their children.
“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,” she said.
Meghan also confronted her father last year about the child sexual abuse allegations leveled against him, according to CBS News partner BBC News. Video that the British tabloid the Daily Mail says it obtained exclusively shows Markle accepting a letter sent by his daughter in his hospital room in the U.S. in December 2025.
According to the BBC, in that letter, Meghan wrote that she and authorities “knew he had abused young girls,” adding that he would never meet her and Harry’s children Archie and Lilibet.
CBS News has reached out to Meghan’s spokesperson for comment on the arrest. CBS News contributor and Sunday Times royal editor, Roya Nikkah, said on X that, according to sources, the duchess is not likely to comment “at this time.”