Meghan Markle’s father has been arrested after the FBI allegedly found “sexually explicit photographs” of him posing with a “prepubescent girl.”
Federal agents raided a Florida care home on Friday to take Thomas Markle, 82, into custody after searching storage units held in his name in Los Angeles. The Department of Justice said he has been charged with possessing child pornography.
It comes after two weeks of reports alleging Markle kept child abuse images in storage lockers in Mexico and the U.S., as well as at his former home in the Philippines.
Photographs show a wheelchair-bound Markle in handcuffs being pushed by FBI personnel. It is the latest development in a global investigation into Meghan’s dad, who has been disowned by her and turned in to the police by his son.
The DOJ said: “A Florida man was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint alleging he kept child sexual abuse material, including sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls, in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented for nearly two decades.
“Thomas Wayne Markle, 82, of Lakeland, Florida, is charged with one count of possession of child pornography.”
He is due to appear in court in Florida later on Friday. A DOJ press release said it seized about 78 items, including two pictures that “depict an adult man – whom a witness identified as Markle – with a nude prepubescent girl.”
It added: “The third image depicts a nude prepubescent girl in a room that appears to be part of a motel chain in the Philippines. The affidavit also describes additional photographs that appear to show Markle with children in various stages of undress.”
