Thomas Markle Jailed in Florida After Prosecutors Say He Cut Off Monitoring Device

Federal prosecutors say that at 1:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Thomas Markle cut off the location monitoring bracelet he had been ordered to wear. By the end of the day, the 82-year-old father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, was in custody in Florida and had appeared in federal court in Tampa.

The account of the timing came from Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, who posted on X earlier Tuesday that Markle "allegedly" removed the device overnight. He said release conditions are court orders, not suggestions, and that prosecutors were asking the court to revoke Markle's release and hold him until trial. Essayli told The Associated Press he did not know why the device was removed, and it was not clear where it happened.

Markle had been allowed to stay out of custody while his case moves forward. He was released on his own recognizance, ordered to home detention with electronic monitoring, and barred from traveling outside the Middle District of Florida and the Central District of California.

The case itself began the previous Friday. Markle is charged with one count of possession of child pornography and made his first appearance in Tampa that day. FBI agents had taken him into custody earlier on Friday at the retirement home in Lakeland, Florida, where he lives. The Justice Department alleges he kept child sexual abuse material, including sexually explicit photographs of himself with prepubescent girls, in two Los Angeles-area storage units he rented for nearly two decades. If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison. Essayli said at the time that the allegations were extremely serious and would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of federal law.

Also on Friday, Judge Lindsay Griffin ordered a psychiatric examination. She cited his health condition, advanced age and lack of recall, without offering further detail, and said she found reasonable cause to believe he may be suffering from a condition rendering him mentally incompetent, meaning unable to understand the proceedings or assist in his defense. A psychiatrist's report on his mental state is due by Nov. 20.

The Los Angeles storage units are not the only places where material has allegedly turned up. Images have also reportedly been found at his former home in the Philippines and in a storage unit he rented in Mexico. Markle had been living in Cebu in the Philippines until he reportedly returned to the United States this year.

The Philippine investigation began, according to a Philippine National Police spokesperson speaking to CBS News, after his son, Thomas Markle Jr., turned Markle's personal items over to law enforcement. Markle Jr. told The Sun that he reported the images to Philippine police and contacted the FBI. He said he had supported and cared for his father for years, but that it was over, and that he would not speak to him again unless called to give evidence against him.

In Mexico, the Daily Mail reported that it alerted the FBI to a cache inside a storage unit Markle had rented near his former home in Rosarito. The Baja California State Attorney General's Office confirmed a search on Oct. 29, prompted by a 911 report, in which three old magazines and VHS tapes containing child pornography were found. The evidence and case files were referred to Mexico's federal Attorney General's Office for follow-up.

Markle has denied the claims, calling them "sick lies" and telling the Daily Mail he has never downloaded anything like that in his life. Still to come: the court's ruling on whether he stays detained, the psychiatrist's report due Nov. 20, and the continuing inquiries in the Philippines and Mexico.