Duchess Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle Sr., arrested in Florida in child pornography investigation

Thomas Markle Sr., the stranger The father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested Friday in Florida in connection with allegations that he possessed child pornography in storage units in California, 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 that he had rented for nearly two decades.

Markle is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday in Tampa, Florida. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney who can respond to the allegations.

“These allegations are extremely serious, and we will pursue 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.

The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, was the first to report Markle’s arrest.

Last month, it was reported that Markle under investigation by authorities in the Philippines for alleged possession of child pornography. Markle has denied the allegations against him, calling them “sick lies.”

“I’ve never downloaded anything like this in my life,” he reportedly told 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 her son, Thomas Markle Jr.

Markle Jr. told the Sun tabloid last month that he reported the images to Philippine police and contacted the FBI.

“I supported him, cared for him and helped him for years – but that stops now,” Markle Jr. told The Sun. “I will never speak to my father again unless I am called to testify against him.”

The Daily Mail reported last week that it alerted the FBI to a cache of child pornography found in a storage unit that Markle Sr. had rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico.

In a statement released Friday, the Attorney General’s Office of the state of Baja California in Mexico confirmed to CBS News that a search was conducted on October 29 after a report via the 911 emergency line.

“During the operation, three old magazines and VHS tapes containing child pornography were discovered,” the office said in its statement. “The evidence and associated files have been transmitted to the General Prosecutor’s Office (FGR), which will be responsible for monitoring the file.”

The 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 been renting since 2008, with the most recent payments on both being made last month by autopay.

Inside the units, FBI agents seized 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books containing suspected child sexual abuse material. In one of the units, officers found at least 18 images that appeared to constitute child pornography.

Two of the images found allegedly show an adult man — who a witness identified as Markle Sr. — with a naked prepubescent girl, according to the affidavit.

A third image reportedly shows a naked prepubescent girl in a room that appears to be part of a chain of motels in the Philippines. Other photos allegedly show Markle Sr. with children in various stages of undress, the affidavit states.

“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 resource at our disposal to protect innocent children – any predator who targets children will have no safe haven in this country or anywhere they attempt to hide.”

If convicted, Markle Sr. would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.

Meghan distanced herself over allegations years ago

After the investigation reports were made public, Meghan, who recently returned 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 made against him since 2018 and that the allegations were shared with British authorities of the time.

She said it was based on this information that she and Harry decided to cut her father off from all contact with their children.

“I hope we can now understand that, despite the distortion of some media publications over the years, any distance from my father and my choice not to allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason only: to protect them,” she said.

Meghan too confronted his father last year over child sex abuse allegations made against him, according to CBS News partner BBC News. A video that British tabloid Daily Mail says it exclusively obtained shows Markle accepting a letter sent by her daughter in her hospital room in the United States in December 2025.

According to the BBC, in the letter, Meghan wrote that she and authorities “knew he had abused young girls,” adding that he would never meet her or Harry’s children, Archie and Lilibet.

Meghan will not comment on the arrest at this time, according to sources.