The estranged father of Meghan Markle was arrested Friday morning by federal agents in Florida on charges related to child sexual abuse material, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.
Thomas Markle Sr. was arrested outside Tampa, according to the people who were not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
His arrest follows reports by The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper, that Meghan's half brother found a collection of child sexual abuse images while clearing out the home of their father in the Philippines.
Meghan Markle, the wife of Prince Harry, recently said she was “deeply distressed” by allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images had been found at her father’s former home. She also revealed that a letter containing “troubling allegations” about him had been sent to London police in 2018.
"It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated," Meghan said of the letter. "I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications' distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children was for one reason: to protect them."
Meghan, an American citizen who starred in the U.S. television drama “Suits,” married Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. They have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Her father, a retired television lighting and photography director, did not attend the wedding, prompting extensive coverage in the British media of Meghan's estrangement from her father.
Thomas Markle Sr. was living in the Philippines earlier this year when he suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated. That forced him to return to the U.S.
The Sun reported that Thomas Markle Jr. recently found “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sex abuse images in boxes at his father’s former home in Cebu City, in the Philippines, when he was clearing out the property.
Markle Jr. told the newspaper that he reported the images to police in the Philippines and contacted the FBI.
“I have supported, cared for him and helped him for years — but that stops now,” Markle Jr. told The Sun. “I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him.”