Thomas Markle Sr., the 82-year-old father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested in Florida on Friday on a federal charge of possessing child pornography. Prosecutors in Los Angeles say he stored child sexual abuse material in two storage units he had rented in the Los Angeles area since 2008, including sexually explicit photographs that they say show him with young girls.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California announced the criminal complaint, which charges Thomas Wayne Markle of Lakeland, Florida, with one count of possession of child pornography. The maximum sentence is 20 years in federal prison. A complaint contains only allegations, and Markle is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
What prosecutors say agents found
The case started abroad. According to prosecutors, an FBI affidavit filed with the complaint says that in October investigators learned that a person had signed an affidavit saying they found suspected abuse material among Markle's belongings in the Philippines. Another person told agents that Markle kept a storage unit near Los Angeles, and information from the first person later led them to a second unit.
Agents searched both units under court-approved warrants and seized about 78 items, among them slides, film negatives and books, that prosecutors say contained suspected abuse material. Rent on both units was still being paid by auto-pay in October.
"These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law," said Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. FBI Director Kash Patel thanked the bureau's Los Angeles and Tampa field offices and its legal attaches in Mexico, Manila and the Marshall Islands for their work on the case.
What happened in court on Friday
Markle's first court appearance was in Tampa. The Middle District of Florida's public docket feed lists the case as 8:26-mj-03344 and shows that a federal public defender was appointed to represent him. His initial appearance is logged as one for a defendant charged in another district and marked as a transfer out. He was released. The feed lists an order setting conditions of release but not the conditions themselves. The charge stays with federal court in Los Angeles, where the prosecution continues.
The FBI asks anyone with information about the exploitation of children to contact local police or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
