Thomas Markle arrested on child pornography charge in Florida
The 82-year-old father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was taken into custody in Florida after federal authorities seized child sexual abuse material from storage units in California.
Thomas Markle, 82, the father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was arrested in Lakeland, Florida, on a charge of possession of child pornography, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal agents searched two Los Angeles-area storage units that he had rented for nearly two decades and seized about 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books, that authorities said contained suspected child sexual abuse images.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli described the seized material as "sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls." FBI Director Kash Patel said FBI agents worked with the Justice Department to locate the material and arrest Markle, adding that the agencies "moved quickly" in the operation.
Markle is scheduled to appear in federal court later on Friday; he has not yet entered a plea. If convicted, the charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison. A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex declined to comment. Markle, who recently moved into a nursing home for dementia patients in Lakeland, had previously disclosed a diagnosis of cognitive issues and had returned to the United States after recovering from a leg amputation.