TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — The 82-year-old estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, cut an electronic monitoring device off his ankle, just days after his arrest for keeping child sexual abuse material 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 he cut off the ankle bracelet at 1:45 a.m., Essayli said.
Markle’s arrest on Friday followed the seizure of approximately 78 items, including slides, film negatives, and books that contained suspected child sexual abuse images in storage in the Los Angeles area, Essayli said.
During his arrest last week, he was taken from a senior care center in Lakeland by ambulance. Hours later, a judge allowed Markle to be released on the condition that he be electronically monitored, which typically means wearing an ankle tether.
The judge also ordered a mental competency exam and a report by Nov. 20.
His daughter, Meghan, the 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 actor who starred in the U.S. television drama “Suits.”
Meghan recently said she was “deeply distressed” by allegations that a collection of child sexual abuse images had been found at her father’s former home. She also revealed that a letter containing “troubling allegations” about him had been sent to police in London in 2019.
“It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,” Meghan said of the letter. “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.”
Thomas Markle was living in the Philippines this year when he suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated. That forced him to return to the U.S.
His arrest followed reports by The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper, that Meghan’s half brother found a collection of child sexual abuse images while clearing out their father’s home in the Philippines. That discovery led to information about two U.S. storage units in California, which Markle had rented since 2008.