Thomas Markle Sr arrested in Florida over child sex abuse material found in storage units
Meghan Markle's father, Thomas Markle Sr, 82, was arrested in Florida on possession of child sexual abuse material charges. FBI agents found 78 explicit items in two Los Angeles-area storage units.
Meghan Markle's father faces US federal charge over explicit images of minors
Thomas Markle Sr, the estranged father of Meghan Markle, was arrested in Florida on a charge of possession of child sexual abuse material, the US Department of Justice announced on Friday, according to aljazeera.com.
FBI agents, acting on search warrants, discovered 78 items — including photographs, film negatives and books — inside two storage units in the Los Angeles area that Markle, 82, had rented for nearly two decades. The explicit material depicted him with underage girls, prosecutors said.
Authorities first learned of the allegations in October, when an individual signed an affidavit stating that child sex abuse material had been found among Markle's possessions in the Philippines. A second witness told investigators that Markle had been renting a storage unit near Los Angeles since 2008. That information led to the discovery of a second unit.
The affidavit described three photographs in detail. Two showed a man, identified by a witness as Thomas Markle, with a nude prepubescent girl. A third depicted a nude underage girl in what appeared to be a hotel room in the Philippines. Additional images allegedly showed Markle with "children in various stages of undress".
"Mr Markle allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions," FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Thomas Markle had been living in the Philippines earlier this year before suffering a stroke and having his left leg amputated, which forced his return to the United States.
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, issued a statement to The New York Times in October, saying she first became aware of the allegations in 2018, when a letter detailing them was sent to the Metropolitan Police unit then handling her security.
"I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours," she wrote, in an apparent reference to reporting by British tabloid the Sun. "My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed."
She added: "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."
Meghan, Prince Harry and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, relocated back to the United Kingdom in August.
Thomas Markle was expected to appear before a Florida court on Friday. If convicted, the Justice Department said he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in a US federal prison.
The arrest comes amid broader scrutiny of the Trump administration's handling of child abuse-related cases, including criticism over its management of files connected to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Last year, King Charles stripped Prince Andrew of his royal title as the palace sought to distance itself from the scandal surrounding Andrew's association with Epstein.
Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)