Meghan Markle's father arrested on child porn charges

You may not know his face, but you probably know who this guy is. This is Thomas Markle. He's the father of Meghan Markle, who's married to Prince Harry, and he was arrested today here in Florida. Thanks for joining us on this Friday. I'm Luanne Sorrell. I'm Jack Royer. Today he appeared in a federal courtroom in Tampa charged with having possession of child pornography. Matt Trezza live in the Alert Center right now. Thomas Markle was just granted bond. Yeah, that's right. He is going to be allowed to return to the Lakeland facility. He came from under house arrest, though, with certain conditions. And for now, Thomas Markle is facing one count of possession of child porn. But FBI experts tell me more charges could be coming. 82-year-old Thomas Markle is the father of Meghan Markle, Prince Harry's wife and Duchess of Sussex. Markle was cuffed this morning at an assisted living facility in Lakeland. U.S. Attorney's Office says agents raided two storage units in Los Angeles that Markle had rented for nearly 20 years. Inside, they allegedly found nearly 80 items, including slides, film negatives and books depicting child sexual abuse. At least two of those images allegedly show Markle with a naked underage girl. Former FBI Special Agent Jen Coffendaffer walked us through how agents will proceed in this case. So they will take the very strongest charge that they've really put together well. They have dates, times, they have that image. They can definitely say that it's definitely connected to him and that's what they'll use. I would expect many more charges to be on top of this coming soon. Prosecutors say there's also an international connection in this case. One of the images shows an underage girl in a motel in the Philippines, and they allegedly found child sexual abuse material among Markle's possessions in the Philippines. They say law enforcement partners in Mexico, Manila, and the Marshall Islands all cooperated in this investigation. Parties abroad like in Thailand and Asia and other countries that are involved in this case are well aware that people from the United States would come there to perpetrate these. sorts of crimes. TMZ producer Michael Babcock says Markle's physical condition may play a role in this case. He is not in good health. He is 82 years old. Obviously, he's living in the assisted living facility, so he's not on his own anymore. And yeah, we've seen that many times before, where somebody's health just dictates certain aspects about the trials. If convicted, Markle would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Live in the Alert Center, Center Matt Trezza, Fox 35 News.