Thomas Markle Released on Bond, Placed on House Arrest After Child Pornography Charge

Thomas Markle Sr., the 82-year-old father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was released on bond Friday and placed on house arrest hours after his arrest on a federal child pornography charge. He did not enter a plea.

Federal agents arrested Markle on Friday morning at the assisted living facility in Lakeland, Florida, where he lives. He appeared later Friday in federal court in Tampa. A federal magistrate judge ordered him released on bond and placed him on house arrest, the Justice Department said. He may not travel outside the Middle District of Florida and the Central District of California.

The court also ordered an evaluation to determine whether Markle understands the charges against him, according to Page Six, which was in the courtroom. He was released back to the Florida assisted living facility where he was arrested, the court clerk told People. He was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair, according to the BBC. The court barred him from contact with minors and from using any device that can connect to the internet, and ordered electronic monitoring, Page Six reported.

Markle faces one count of possession of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said. Prosecutors say he kept “sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls” in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented for nearly two decades. Agents seized about 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books containing suspected child sexual abuse material, the Justice Department said.

Two images show a man, identified by a witness as Markle, with a nude prepubescent girl, according to the Justice Department. Another image shows a nude girl in a room that appears to be part of a motel chain in the Philippines, investigators said. If convicted, Markle faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

How the case began

The case began after Markle’s son, Thomas Markle Jr., told Britain’s The Sun in October that he found a stash of images of underage children in storage boxes and on computer hard drives at his father’s home in the Philippines and reported him to authorities there. The Philippines Justice Department’s child abuse unit told CNN the matter was under investigation. The FBI said in October it was aware of the allegations and would investigate any related violations of U.S. law.

Markle has denied wrongdoing. In an interview with the Daily Mail, he said he was “shocked” and “hurt” by his son’s accusations. He said the computer equipment had not been in his possession since he left Mexico with his son in 2025.

Meghan said in October that she was “deeply distressed” by the report about her father. She referenced a letter she said London’s Metropolitan Police received in 2018 with “troubling and disturbing allegations” against him. A spokesperson for Meghan told CNN after the arrest that they had no comment at this time.

Markle is estranged from his daughter. He did not attend her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. He worked as a lighting director and director of photography on television shows, including “Married with Children.” His arraignment in California has not been scheduled yet, prosecutors said, but will likely take several weeks.