Photos of Thomas Markle sexually abusing children in the Philippines have been found by the FBI in storage units in California, according to a criminal complaint filed against him on Friday.
Markle, 82, was arrested by the FBI on Friday morning at the rehabilitation center in Lakeland, Florida where he has been living since having his lower left leg amputated last year.
He was handcuffed and taken away in his wheelchair by agents. Asked by the Daily Mail whether he was a pedophile, the Pennsylvania-born former Hollywood lighting director said: 'No.'
The FBI's investigation came after the Daily Mail's discovery at the end of October of a storage unit near his Mexican beachfront home, which contained images of child sex abuse.
The Daily Mail passed the information over to the FBI. The agency then discovered that there were two additional storage units rented by Markle in Los Angeles, where he lived until moving to Mexico in 2011.
The Department of Justice today charged Thomas Markle with possession of child pornography after discovering an additional two storage units in Los Angeles
Thomas Markle, the 82-year-old father of the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested by the FBI on Friday morning in Lakeland, Florida
According to the affidavit filed today by the Department of Justice, the units contained a series of photos, which seemed to have been taken several decades ago, of Markle sexually abusing young girls at a Philippines motel.
The first storage unit, which Markle rented from 2008 until the present, contained 27 items seized by the FBI's Violent Crimes Against Children unit.
The court records describe the items as slides, film negatives and books that contained suspected child pornography.
The negatives were developed by the investigators, and revealed photos of Markle in what the FBI now believes to be the Anahaw Lodge motel with naked 'pre-pubescent' girls.
At least three of the photos, described in graphic detail, depict Markle sexually abusing the girl.
One of the three photos also has a girl of 'indeterminate' age in the bedroom with Markle and the child.
There are others that allegedly show Markle and other children in various stages of 'undress'.
Markle's identity was confirmed when the FBI on November 5 showed the pictures to a person who has known him since the 1970s.
Markle is seen on Friday being taken into custody by the FBI in Florida
The FBI spoke with three witnesses who confirmed the man in the disturbing photographs was Markle
The second storage unit was also rented from June 2008 until the present.
The FBI seized 51 items from the second unit, including film negatives, books and slides that the agency suspects contain child pornography.
Markle will appear before United States Magistrate Judge Thomas Wilson at 1:30pm on Friday.
He told the Mail on Sunday last month that he paid for sex in the Philippines when he was single, adding: 'I never had sex with anyone under the age of 18. I like Asian women but that is not a crime.'
Markle separated from Doria Ragland, the Duchess of Sussex's mother, when their daughter was two years old, in around 1983.
They officially divorced several years later.
In 2011, Markle retired and relocated to the northern Mexico beach town of Rosarito, just south of Tijuana.
Mexican Guardia Nacional sex crimes investigators are seen raiding Thomas Markle's storage locker in Rosarito on Halloween morning, hours after the Daily Mail reported that it contained child pornography
The Daily Mail was able to access Markle's storage locker after he failed to keep up his rental payments. Its contents included photos of Asian females who appeared to be conspicuously young and books as well as magazines that sexualized children as 'Lolitas'
His son from his first marriage, Thomas Jr, told the Daily Mail at the time of the Royal wedding in 2018 that Markle spent his retirement years watching old Hollywood films and living quietly.
He said his father's hobbies were photography and travel - adding that he had a fascination with Asian culture, having visited Thailand and Vietnam.
In January 2025, Markle relocated to the Philippines with Thomas Jr, moving to a short-term rental on the 19th floor of a high-rise apartment block, near the beach in Cebu.
'I am ready for a change,' he told the Daily Mail at the time. 'I have felt stuck in a rut for some time and I am ready to meet new people and experience kindness.'
'At 80 it is time to go somewhere where the people are lovely and I can enjoy a quieter, friendlier existence.
'In South-East Asia the medical care is good, you can live reasonably cheaply, the people are kind and respect older people and the food is healthy.
'Mostly I just want peace. At 80, none of us know how long we have left. I want whatever time I have to be peaceful with none of the awful drama of recent years.'
In December 2025 he was rushed to hospital and operated on for blood clots. His left leg was amputated, and he spent Christmas in the wards.
By May this year he was back in the United States - first in his native Pennsylvania, and then Florida, recuperating from his operations.
On October 22, The Sun reported that Thomas Jr had found a stash of 'hundreds, if not thousands' of images of the sexual abuse of children on a laptop and phone belonging to his father. He took his findings to the police in the Philippines, who are now investigating.
Markle has called the accusations 'sick lies'.
On October 29, the Daily Mail reported the discovery of a storage unit in Mexico, near Rosarito, which contained child pornography. The Daily Mail told the FBI.
The FBI then found the two additional storage units in Los Angeles.
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