Thomas Wayne Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, has been taken into custody after allegedly cutting off his ankle monitor on Monday, according to court documents.
A federal judge in Florida ordered that he be jailed pending legal proceedings on charges of possession of child pornography.
Thomas Markle, 82, was arrested last week and put under house arrest in Lakeland, Florida. He was ordered to wear an ankle monitor.
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, alleged Tuesday that Markle had cut off the bracelet at 1:45 a.m. Monday.
“Release conditions are court orders, not suggestions,” Essayli wrote on X. “We are asking the court to revoke his release and detain him pending trial, and we will continue to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Lindsay S. Griffin granted the request and Markle was taken into custody, court filings show.
In a written order, Griffin said Markle’s housing situation had become “untenable” but did not elaborate. After Markle’s court appearance Friday, Griffin ordered a psychiatric examination. She said she had cause to believe he “may presently suffer from a mental disease or defect” that could render him unable to “understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him.”
Markle’s federal public defender did not respond to a request for comment.
Markle was arrested Friday after FBI agents searched two Los Angeles-area storage units that prosecutors say he rented.
In the storage units, prosecutors say in a federal criminal complaint filed in California, agents found child pornography. a federal criminal complaint filed in California.
Meghan Markle, who reportedly has not seen her father since before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry, on Tuesday made her first public appearance since his arrest.
She joined Harry at the European Parliament in Brussels, where he delivered a speech calling for greater protection for children online, the BBC reported. She did not respond to reporters’ questions.
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