Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested on Friday in Lakeland, Fla., on charges related to the possession of child sexual abuse material, the Justice Department said.
Mr. Markle was arrested after law enforcement officials discovered sexually explicitly photographs of him with prepubescent girls in two Los Angeles-area storage units that he rented for nearly two decades, the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said in a statement.
Mr. Markle, who has denied past claims that he possessed child sex abuse material, is expected to make an initial court appearance in Tampa, Fla., on Friday.
In a statement to The New York Times last month, Meghan said that she first learned of the allegations against her father in 2018, when a letter detailing the accusations was sent to the unit of London’s Metropolitan Police that was handling her security at the time.
The letter, she said, “made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated.” She did not elaborate.
“I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours,” she added in the statement, an apparent reference to the tabloid reports. “My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.”
She said the reports helped explain why she cut had ties with her father.
“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,” she said.
Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, recently moved back to Britain from California with their children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5.
The couple’s relationship with Mr. Markle has been a subject of intense scrutiny since before their 2018 wedding, when palace officials announced days before the ceremony that Mr. Markle would not attend.
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