Thomas Markle Removed Ankle Monitor Before Tampa Arrest
The 82-year-old father of the Duchess of Sussex cut his electronic tether at 1:45 a.m. while awaiting a federal hearing.
By Nadia Rahman ·
Thomas Markle, the 82-year-old estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, cut the electronic monitoring device from his ankle just days after his arrest for possessing child sexual abuse material, federal authorities stated Tuesday.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Markle was in custody in Tampa, Florida, while awaiting a hearing in federal court. Essayli noted that Markle was arrested shortly after he removed the ankle bracelet at 1:45 a.m.
The arrest on Friday occurred after law enforcement seized approximately 78 items from storage units in the Los Angeles area. Essayli said the seized items included slides, film negatives, and books containing suspected child sexual abuse images.
Markle was originally taken into custody at a senior care center in Lakeland by ambulance. Hours later, a judge permitted his release on the condition that he wear an electronic tether. The judge also ordered a mental competency exam and required a report to be filed by Nov. 20.
Meghan Markle, who married Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018, said she was deeply distressed by the allegations regarding her father’s former home. She 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. “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.”
Markle had been living in the Philippines this year when he suffered a stroke and required a left leg amputation, which forced his return to the United States. The arrest followed reports by The Sun, a British tabloid, that Meghan’s half brother discovered the collection of images while clearing out their father’s home in the Philippines. That discovery led to the identification of two U.S. storage units in California that Markle had rented since 2008.
