Thomas Markle removed ankle monitor after arrest on child sexual abuse material charges
The estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex was taken into custody in Florida after cutting off his electronic monitoring device, following a seizure of suspected child sexual abuse images in California.
Thomas Markle, the 82-year-old father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, cut off his ankle monitor on Tuesday morning, authorities said. The removal occurred shortly after he was arrested in Florida while awaiting a federal hearing. First assistant U.S. attorney Bill Essayli noted that Markle had been taken into custody after a judge ordered electronic monitoring as a condition of his release.
The arrest followed a seizure of about 78 items – including slides, film negatives and books – that law enforcement described as containing suspected child sexual abuse images stored in the Los Angeles area. A senior-care center in Lakeland transferred Markle to authorities by ambulance, and a judge later allowed his release on the monitoring condition, also ordering a mental-competency evaluation and a report due by 20 November.
"It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated," Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, said of a 2019 letter sent to London police. "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."
Meghan, who married Prince Harry in 2018, has two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. Markle, who suffered a stroke and had his left leg amputated in the Philippines earlier this year, returned to the United States for medical care.