The 82-year-old former father Meghan, Duchess of Sussexwas sentenced to prison Tuesday for removing an electronic monitoring device from his ankle, just days after being charged with possession of child pornography.
Thomas Markle was arrested and appeared in federal court in Tampa, Florida, after authorities learned he had turned off the device at 1:45 a.m., First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said.
“The conditions of release are court orders and not suggestions,” Essayli said.
Markle’s arrest Friday in Lakeland, Fla., followed the seizure of about 78 items from storage units in the Los Angeles area, including slides, film negatives and books containing alleged images of child sexual abuse, said Essayli, a federal prosecutor in California.
Markle was living in a senior care center at the time. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Lindsay Griffin agreed Tuesday that Markle should now be kept in custody. Authorities have not said where he will be held while his case remains before the courts with a possible transfer to California.
In his written order, Griffin noted that Markle’s “housing situation” had become “untenable” but did not elaborate. Defense attorney Mary Claire Wolf wanted to keep him out of custody but couldn’t find suitable housing for Markle, according to a summary of the hearing.
Essayli told The Associated Press he did not know why the ankle device was removed. It was also unclear where it happened. An email and phone message seeking comment from Wolf were not immediately returned.
Still pending, in addition to the charges: a mental competency test for Markle.
He had a stroke earlier this year while living in the Philippines and had to have his left leg amputated. This forced him to return to the United States
The Sun, a British tabloid, reported that Meghan’s half-brother found a collection of child sexual abuse images while cleaning out their father’s house in the Philippines. This discovery provided information on the two American storage units in California, which Markle had been renting since 2008.
Markle’s daughter, Meghanmarried Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. They have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. She is an American citizen and actress who starred in the American television series “Suits”.
She recently said she was “deeply distressed” by allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images had been found in her father’s former home. She also revealed that a letter containing “disturbing allegations” about her was sent to London police in 2019.
“It contained disturbing and disturbing allegations against my father and I was assured that these allegations were being investigated,” Meghan said of the letter. “I hope that we can now understand that, despite the distortions of some media publications over the years, any distance from my father and my choice not to allow him to have contact with our children was motivated by one reason only: to protect them.”
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