Meghan Markle's father Thomas Markle Sr. arrested by FBI in Florida
Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested by federal authorities in Florida on Friday on one count of possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
Markle -- who has been estranged from his daughter since her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry -- is accused of keeping suspected child sexual abuse material in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented for nearly two decades, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a press release.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed Markle’s arrest Friday, saying, in part, in a statement, “Mr. Markle allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions. Working with our Justice Department partners, our agents moved quickly, identified and located the explicit material, and arrested Mr. Markle in Florida.”
Markle's arrest comes after law enforcement officials learned last month that an individual -- who was not named Friday by authorities -- signed an affidavit "regarding their discovery of suspected child sexual abuse material among Markle's possessions in the Philippines," according to the release.
Markle, 82, had been living in the Philippines since early 2025 before recently moving to Florida. During Meghan's childhood, he lived in Los Angeles, where he worked as a lighting director for shows including "General Hospital" and "Married… With Children."
Officials said Friday that through a second unnamed individual, law enforcement also learned of Markle's two rented storage units in the Los Angeles area.
Markle is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Tampa on Friday afternoon. If convicted, he would face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, according to the release.
ABC News has not been able to reach Markle for comment.
Markle denied the allegations included in a report by The Sun that he was being investigated by authorities in the Philippines for allegedly possessing child sex abuse material following claims made by his son, Thomas Markle Jr., Meghan's half-brother. The Philippine Department of Justice later told ABC News the matter involving Thomas Markle Sr. is under investigation by an anti-trafficking task force in Cebu.
Markle Sr. called the allegations "sick lies" and "the worst thing anyone could accuse me of" in an interview with The Daily Mail published Oct. 23.
"I'm shocked, I'm hurt and I'm very upset that my son is making these accusations against me. I could never do what I'm being accused of. It's the worst thing anyone could accuse me of," he told the outlet.
A spokesperson for Meghan declined to comment to ABC News on Friday.
The Duchess of Sussex issued a statement last month following the Sun's report about her father, saying, "I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed."
She also said in her Oct. 23 statement that a letter containing "troubling and disturbing allegations" against her father was sent to British police in 2018 and was later shared with her, without providing any details about the nature of the allegations.
"In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated," Meghan said.
Following Meghan's statement, the Metropolitan Police Service also confirmed the existence of the letter, dating it to January 2019. A spokesperson for Meghan told ABC News the duchess may have been off by a few months in her recollection of the timing of the letter.
"Following a thorough review of Met Police systems and records, we have confirmed that in January 2019, we received a letter containing a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom. It was sent to the MPS Protection Command to raise concerns in relation to the security of the Duchess of Sussex," the MPS said in a statement. "The letter was reviewed and a decision was made that it should be passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. The details of the allegations in the letter were not shared with other law enforcement agencies."
Meghan is known to have become estranged from her father after he posed for staged paparazzi photos and did not attend her wedding to Harry.
Harry and Meghan, now the parents of two children, moved back to the U.K. in August after living in California for six years.
