Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has been released into house arrest after being charged in the United States with possessing child sexual abuse material.
The 82-year-old was arrested by federal agents in Florida and appeared before a US magistrate judge in Tampa on Friday. He has not entered a plea.
Prosecutors allege that Mr Markle kept sexually explicit photographs involving prepubescent girls in two storage units in the Los Angeles area, which he had rented for almost two decades.
First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said Mr Markle was accused of possessing “child sexual abuse material, including photographs depicting himself with minor girls”.
Thomas Markle child abuse material case
The court ordered Mr Markle’s release subject to house arrest. He is prohibited from travelling outside Florida’s Middle District and California’s Central District.
Because of his age, physical condition and apparent memory problems, he must also undergo a psychiatric evaluation before the case proceeds, according to court records.
Federal agents seized about 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books containing suspected child sexual abuse material, prosecutors said.
A criminal complaint alleges that some images showed a man identified by a witness as Mr Markle with a nude prepubescent girl. Another allegedly showed a clothed man with a nude girl sitting on his lap.
Mr Markle’s arraignment in California has not yet been scheduled and is expected to take several weeks. If convicted, he could face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The allegations were previously investigated after Mr Markle’s son said he had found indecent images involving underage children among storage boxes and computer hard drives in the Philippines. The Philippines Justice Department’s child abuse unit said the matter was under investigation.
Mr Markle strongly denied the allegations in an interview, saying: “I’m shocked, I’m hurt and I’m very upset that my son is making these accusations against me.”
His daughter Meghan said in October that she was “deeply distressed” by a report about the alleged images. A spokesperson for the duchess said they had no comment when asked about his arrest and release.
Mr Markle has been estranged from Meghan and did not attend her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. Their relationship became publicly strained in the period before the wedding and Meghan later said she mourned the loss of contact with her father.
