Thomas Markle, father of the Duchess of Sussex, has been arrested by US federal agents in Florida on charges related to child sexual abuse material.

Markle, 82, was taken into custody near Tampa early on Friday, US prosecutors said.

Meghan 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.

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 former home in the Philippines. He was named as a person of interest in the case earlier this week.

Markle’s father, a retired television lighting and photography director, did not attend the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan, amid acrimony and estrangement between father and daughter. Meghan has since said she decided to distance herself from him to protect her children.

The US justice department, the FBI and federal prosecutors in Tampa did not immediately respond to requests from the Guardian for comment.