A federal judge let Thomas Markle Sr., 82, leave custody to await arraignment in California, where agents seized about 78 items from two storage units. He denies wrongdoing.
By EEW Magazine Online Editors
Thomas Markle Sr., 82, is escorted by FBI agents from his Lakeland, Florida, care facility Friday after his arrest on a federal child pornography charge. (Coleman-Rayner/The Sun)
Thomas Markle Sr., the 82-year-old father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was released to house arrest on Friday, hours after FBI agents took him from a Florida senior care facility in a wheelchair. He is charged on a federal complaint with one count of possession of child pornography. Prosecutors allege that he kept child sexual abuse material in two Los Angeles-area storage units he has rented since 2008, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced.
At his first appearance in federal court in Tampa, Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson ordered him released to home detention with electronic monitoring and barred him from traveling outside central Florida and the Los Angeles-area federal district, CNN and The New York Times reported. Markle did not enter a plea. Prosecutors said his arraignment in California has not been scheduled and will likely take several weeks. Fox News reported that the judge also ordered a psychological evaluation to determine whether he understands the charges.
Agents searched both storage units under court-authorized warrants on Oct. 30 and seized about 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books. In material from one unit, investigators identified at least 18 images that appear to constitute child pornography, according to an FBI affidavit. A witness who has known Markle since the 1970s identified him as the adult man in two of those images, the affidavit says. Records show the most recent payment on the units was made in October.
“These allegations are extremely serious,” said Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. He added that his office will prosecute Markle “to the fullest extent of federal law.” If convicted, Markle faces up to 20 years in federal prison.
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said last month that she kept her father away from her children “to protect them.” (Getty Images)
Essayli told the Associated Press that the seized material has shown no evidence of victims in the United States, though the investigation is ongoing. He said his office is aware of public reports that Markle could have dementia.
Markle has denied the allegations and called them “sick lies.” His court-appointed attorney did not immediately return messages from the AP. A spokesperson for Meghan and Prince Harry declined to comment on the arrest, and Buckingham Palace is not expected to address it.
The U.S. case grew out of reports from the Philippines. Thomas Markle Jr., Meghan’s 60-year-old half brother, had been his father’s caregiver in Cebu. He told The Sun that after his father left the country in May, he found “hundreds, if not thousands” of images in boxes. He said he was “horrified” and reported them to Philippine police and the FBI. According to the affidavit, U.S. authorities learned of his sworn statement in October. Another witness then told investigators about a storage unit in the Los Angeles area.
Patrick Grandy, who leads the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said the case shows why the public should speak up about suspected exploitation of children, “even if it’s a family member or close friend.”
Philippine authorities are running their own investigation. An initial forensic examination found suspected child sexual abuse and exploitation material on three SD cards and one of five cellphones examined, the Philippine Star reported. Investigators have not established who owned the devices or whether the elder Markle appears in any of the material. They are working with the FBI to trace ownership of the phones. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said Thomas Jr. has been placed under investigation as a person of interest.
Thomas Markle Sr., 82, is charged with one count of possession of child pornography. He has denied the allegations. (Thorpe/MEGA)
Separately, Mexican authorities searched a storage unit in Rosarito, Baja California, on Oct. 31 after an anonymous tip, the state prosecutor’s office told AFP. They seized a computer, thumb drives, VHS tapes and magazines, and the case files have gone to Mexico’s federal Attorney General’s Office. Markle told the Daily Mail he had no storage units in Rosarito.
In Britain, the question is how police handled a warning years earlier. Meghan said last month that she first learned of the allegations in 2018, when a letter making “troubling and disturbing allegations” against her father was sent to the Metropolitan Police unit handling her security. She said she was assured the claims were being investigated. The Met says its records show the letter arrived in January 2019.
The force passed the letter to the Sussexes’ office and did not share it with other law enforcement agencies. ITV and other British outlets reported that its author was Roslyn Loveless, Markle’s late former wife. The Independent Office for Police Conduct has opened an independent investigation into the Met’s handling of it.
Meghan, 45, who recently moved back to Britain with Harry and their children, has had no contact with her father since 2018. In her statement, she said she was “deeply distressed” and that her thoughts were with any children who may have been harmed. She pointed to “certain media publications’ distortion over the years.” She said her distance from her father, and her choice to keep him away from Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, was “for one reason: to protect them.”
Father and daughter have been estranged since Markle admitted staging paparazzi photos before her 2018 wedding. For years the distance drew public criticism of Meghan, including from her half sister, Samantha Markle, who has defended their father in recent weeks.
A criminal complaint contains allegations only. Markle is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court. Neither Philippine nor Mexican authorities have announced charges.
Anyone with information about the sexual exploitation of a child can report it to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678.
Updated Nov. 6, 2026, with Markle’s release to house arrest and new details from the federal affidavit.
This story is developing and will be updated.