Thomas Markle Sr. was caught attempting to cut off his ankle monitor ahead of a court appearance over child porn charges, prosecutors say.
Markle, 82, allegedly tried to cut off the location monitor in the early hours of Tuesday morning, just days after his arrest for allegedly keeping child sexual abuse material in storage units in California.
The allegation was shared Tuesday by US Attorney Bill Essayli, who said that Markle attempted to cut off the ankle monitor while out on custody pending trial.
The prosecutor said Markle was ordered to wear the location monitor ahead of court appearances, but said Markle cut the bracelet off at 1:45am on Tuesday night.
Essayli said the allegedly brazen move has led prosecutors to request Markle’s release be revoked, and for him to be detained pending trial.
A spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service – the branch of federal law enforcement responsible for monitoring Markle’s whereabouts via his GPS ankle monitor – said it was working to establish exactly what had happened.
‘The adult living facility would not take him back. So, he was released to the custody of his other daughter who lives in Lakeland, Florida. And that’s the last that we’ve heard.’
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.
The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father Thomas Markle, 82, was arrested by the FBI on Florida on Friday for allegedly possessing child porn
The 82-year-old was taken into custody when federal agents swooped in on his Maravida Senior Living care home in Lakeland, Florida, on Friday morning after the alleged materials were discovered in two units he had been renting for nearly two decades.
The former Hollywood lighting director, whose arrest was first reported by the Daily Mail, was charged with one count of possession of child pornography.
When Markle, who did not enter a plea at his initial court hearing, was released on bond on Friday evening, he was ordered to live under house arrest at his care home.
However, the assisted living facility reportedly refused to let Markle return, and he was said to have gone to live with his daughter, Samantha.
A judge also ordered Markle to undergo a mental competency exam at his first court hearing, which is scheduled for November 20.
The 82-year-old’s daughter Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has said she is ‘deeply distressed’ by the allegations against her father, and said the ‘troubling’ claims were behind their estrangement.
Meghan said a letter about the allegations had been sent to police in 2019, and she said in a statement that she had been ‘given assurances’ that the allegations were being investigated.
‘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 said.
