Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is back in federal custody in Florida after allegedly removing his ankle monitor, according to court documents.
Markle appeared before a federal magistrate judge in the Florida city of Tampa on Tuesday and was denied bond. Prosecutors say he removed the monitor early that morning.
US Judge Lindsay S Griffin found on Tuesday that Markle had violated the conditions of his pretrial release, court documents show.
Markle, who has denied possessing images of child sex abuse, was arrested in Florida last week and placed under house detention. He was also ordered to wear a location monitoring device.
Griffin described Markle’s housing situation as “untenable”, writing in the order revoking his pretrial release that “based on the lack of suitable housing, no condition or combination of conditions would reasonably assure the safety of any other person or the community and the defendant’s appearance in court”.
He also ordered a medical evaluation for Markle and said he “must receive all necessary and prescribed medication unless discontinued by a physician”.
“Release conditions are court orders, not suggestions,” Bill Essayli, the US attorney for Central California, wrote on X on Tuesday.
“We will continue to prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.
Markle, 82, was first arrested last week after the FBI, acting on warrants, searched storage units in Los Angeles registered to him which he had rented since 2008, with the last payment being made in October this year, the DoJ said.
Inside the units the FBI says agents seized about 78 items, including film negatives, slides and books that they allege contained child sex abuse material.
Witnesses “positively identified” Markle in two of the images believed to contain child sex abuse material.
In those images, the man pictured “appears to be in the age range of 30s to 40s”, which suggests the alleged abuse dates back decades as Markle is currently 82 years old.
Markle appeared in court last week following his arrest. No plea was taken during the appearance, which set several conditions for his pretrial release, including that he be kept in home detention.
He is charged with one count of possessing indecent images of children, according to the DoJ.
FBI director Kash Patel said last week that Markle “allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions”.
Markle has called the allegations “sick lies”.
He moved to the Philippines last year after he had a series of strokes, and lived in Cebu until May. He was reportedly learning to walk again in Florida after having his leg amputated.
The duchess has been estranged from her father since 2018. The BBC understands she broke contact with him last year, telling him she and the authorities knew he had abused young girls.
In a previously shared statement, Meghan confirmed the existence of the letter and wrote: “I am deeply distressed… my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.”
She said she hoped it could be understood why she had largely cut off contact from her father and did “not allow him to have contact with our children”.
By BBC News
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