Thomas Markle, father of Meghan, cut off his ankle monitor, DOJ says

Thomas Markle, the 82-year-old estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, cut an electronic monitoring device off his ankle just days after being arrested for keeping child sexual abuse material in California storage units. According to the South China Morning Post and PBS NewsHour, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli stated that Markle was arrested at 1:45 a.m. shortly after removing the ankle bracelet.

Sky News reports that a prosecutor has said Markle faces being sent to jail after cutting off the device used to monitor his movements under house arrest.

The arrest on Friday followed the seizure of approximately 78 items, including books, film negatives, and slides containing suspected child sexual abuse images, in the Los Angeles area. The South China Morning Post and PBS NewsHour report that Markle was taken from a Lakeland senior care center by ambulance during his arrest last week.

Following that arrest, a judge released him on the condition of electronic monitoring and ordered a mental competency exam and a report due by November 20. He was being held in custody in Tampa, Florida, awaiting a federal court hearing.

Brief written by urgent.news from CBC News, South China Morning Post, Sky News, PBS NewsHour, The Guardian US — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.