Thomas Markle, Meghan’s father, arrested in Florida on charges related to child sexual abuse material
Özet haber: Father of the Duchess of Sussex was taken into custody near Tampa, US prosecutors said
Father of the Duchess of Sussex was taken into custody near Tampa, US prosecutors said
Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested by US federal agents in Florida on Friday and charged in connection with possession of child sexual abuse material, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Markle, 82, was taken into custody at a nursing home near Tampa early on Friday, and was expected to appear in court in Tampa in the early afternoon, the US justice department said in a statement.
A 14-page federal criminal complaint says that agents seized approximately 78 items and alleges that Markle kept child sexual abuse material, including sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls, in two Los Angeles-area storage units that he rented for nearly two decades. An affidavit filed with the complaint that led to the arrest stated that two of the images inside the units showed a man identified by a witness as Markle with a nude underage girl.
The document, filed in federal court in California, said the recovered material included dozens of slides, photographs, film negatives and books containing the illegal material. It said the FBI was still reviewing the material.
The director of the FBI, Kash Patel, said: “Mr Markle allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions. This FBI will use every single resource at our disposal to protect innocent kids – any predator who targets children will have zero safe haven in this country or anywhere they try to hide.”
Some details on the criminal complaint are redacted, such as the name of the federal agent who signed the complaint, who states that they are assigned to the violent crimes against children unit in the LA office of the FBI. The case is presented as United States of America v Thomas Wayne Markle.
“Mr Markle is accused of possessing child sexual abuse material, including photographs depicting himself with minor girls,” Bill Essayli, first assistant US attorney for the central district of California, said in a statement.
“These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr Markle to the fullest extent of federal law.”
Markle is charged with one count of possession of child sexual abuse material, and faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted.
Meghan, the wife of Prince Harry, said last month that she was “deeply distressed” about allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images was found at her father’s former home in the Philippines.
The duchess also revealed that a letter containing “troubling allegations” about her father was sent to police in London in 2018.
She had issued a statement after the Sun newspaper published claims that her half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, alleged he had found a stash of images belonging to their father at his Philippines residence. He was named as a person of interest in the case earlier this week.
