The 82-year-old estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, cut off an electronic monitoring device on his ankle, just days after his arrest for keeping child pornography in storage units in California, authorities said. Tuesday.
Thomas Markle was in custody awaiting a hearing in federal court in Tampa, Florida, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said.
He was arrested shortly after cutting the anklet at 2 p.m., Essayli said.
Markle’s arrest Friday followed the seizure of about 78 items, including slides, film negatives and books containing alleged images of child sexual abuse, stored in the Los Angeles area, Essayli said.
When he was arrested last week, he was taken by ambulance to a senior care center in Lakeland. Hours later, a judge allowed Markle to be released on the condition that he be electronically monitored, which usually means wearing an ankle restraint.
The judge also ordered a mental fitness examination and report by November 20.
His daughter, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, married Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. They have two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. She is an American citizen and an actress who starred in the American television series “Suits”..
Meghan 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.”
Thomas Markle was living in the Philippines this year when he suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated. This forced him to return to the United States.
His arrest followed reports from British tabloid The Sun that Meghan’s half-brother had found a collection of child sexual abuse images while clearing out their father’s house in the Philippines. This discovery led to information about two US storage units in California, which Markle had been renting since 2008.
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