Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was arrested Friday by federal agents in Florida on charges related to possession of child sexual abuse material, according to a Justice Department official. Markle is 82.

The official was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive case material that remains under seal. Federal agents took Markle into custody Friday morning near Tampa.

The arrest followed a report published last month by The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper that has long faced condemnation from Meghan’s husband, Prince Harry. The report detailed allegations involving material allegedly discovered at Markle’s former home in the Philippines.

According to an interview published by The Sun, the accusation was raised by Markle’s son. He said he felt he “had no option but to report” his father after allegedly finding “hundreds, if not thousands” of images of child sex abuse.

Markle’s son said the alleged material was stored in boxes and on computer hard drives throughout his father’s home. He told the newspaper that he was “horrified” by what he said he discovered.

The son said he reported the alleged material to law enforcement authorities in the Philippines and to the FBI hotline. He also said he contacted state police in Pennsylvania, where his father was living at the time.

The FBI said at the time of The Sun’s report that it was providing support to Philippine authorities where appropriate. The bureau also said it was prepared to investigate any related violations of United States federal law.

Markle was living in a Florida care home when federal agents arrested him, according to the source material. He has denied the allegations against him.

Meghan recently said she was “deeply distressed” by the accusations involving her father. Her comments came during an interview with The New York Times last month.

Meghan told the newspaper that she first learned of allegations against her father in 2018. She said the London Metropolitan Police unit then responsible for her security received a letter containing “troubling and disturbing allegations” about him.

She did not provide further details about the allegations described in that letter. Meghan said, however, that she had been assured the allegations were under investigation.

The duchess became publicly estranged from her father before her 2018 wedding to Harry. That estrangement attracted massive media attention after Markle did not attend the wedding.

Meghan linked that distance directly to protecting her family during her interview with The New York Times. She also addressed what she described as years of distortion by some media publications.

“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,” Meghan told the Times.

Meghan and Harry have two children, 7 year old Prince Archie and 5 year old Princess Lilibet. The couple recently moved back to England after living in California for six years following a public fallout with senior members of the British royal family.

The allegations reported by The Sun, Markle’s denial and the concerns previously described by Meghan now sit alongside the federal arrest. Details about the sensitive case material remain under seal, while the Justice Department official described the charges as related to possession of child sexual abuse material.