Thomas Markle Sr. has been taken back into federal custody after allegedly being caught cutting off his ankle monitor following his arrest on child porn charges, prosecutors say. 

Markle, 82, allegedly 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.  

US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said he was requesting the court revoke Markle’s bail and re-detain him pending trial, writing on X: ‘Release conditions are court orders, not suggestions.’ 

That request was granted on Tuesday, as Judge Lindsay Griffin said Markle had ‘tampered’ with his ankle monitor and said he needed to be re-arrested because his living arrangements had become ‘untenable.’

Markle’s initial 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. 

Markle had been fitted with the ankle monitor when he was bailed following his first court appearance, but prosecutors said Markle cut the bracelet off at 1:45am on Tuesday morning.

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 spokesman said Markle had been rejected from his senior living facility when he was bailed, and he was ‘released to the custody of his other daughter’ Samantha, 61.

Markle was hauled back into court after allegedly trying to cut off the ankle monitor, and a Department of Justice spokesperson told the Daily Mail on Tuesday: ‘The court ordered him detained without bond.’

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. 

The arrest came after the Daily Mail reported the contents of a storage unit Markle had rented in Mexico to the FBI, when the sickening child pornography was discovered inside.

The former Hollywood lighting director 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 on Saturday the Daily Mail saw Mark Phillips, the partner of Markle’s eldest daughter Samantha Markle, arriving to pick up his items from the home.

Phillips emerged moments later with several bags full of clothes, crutches and a stroller. When the Daily Mail asked him exactly where Markle was, he snarled: ‘You will never find him.’ 

Phillips, 68, then visited another care home in the Lakeland area and walked inside to collect a brochure before returning to the trailer he shares with wheelchair-bound Samantha, 61. The couple had attached a rope across the entrance and erected a no trespassing sign.

Markle’s arrest came just days after the Daily Mail alerted the feds to a stash of child porn inside a storage unit he’d rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico 

The Duchess of Sussex said she was ‘deeply distressed’ by the allegations engulfing her father in the Philippines. She has not commented on the developments in Mexico since they surfaced last week

On Friday, exclusive Daily Mail photos captured the moment Markle, who is wheelchair-bound after having his leg amputated in the Philippines last year, was escorted from his care home in handcuffs 

When a Daily Mail reporter asked him if he was a pedophile during his arrest, Markle responded in a weak voice: ‘No.’ He remained silent when asked if he had ever collected child pornography

At Markle’s court hearing on Friday, the judge also ordered him 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. 

On Friday, exclusive Daily Mail photos captured the moment Markle, who is wheelchair-bound after having his leg amputated in the Philippines last year, was escorted from the care home in handcuffs.

Cutting a desperate figure, Markle scowled and stared around in disbelief as agents loaded him into a waiting ambulance.

When a Daily Mail reporter asked him if he was a pedophile, Markle responded in a weak voice: ‘No.’ He remained silent when asked if he had ever collected child pornography.

Following the discovery of child porn in a storage unit Markle had rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico, reports said police in the Philippines are also ‘very close’ to bringing charges against Markle.

Among the photos in the unit is an undated image of Markle on a bed and with his arm wrapped around a young Asian female, both fully clothed. She appears, alone and naked, in several other pictures as well

Following Markle’s arrest, it was alleged that he told his first wife Roslyn Loveless that he justified having sex with young girls in Asia because their families needed the money.

Ms Loveless, who died in 2024 aged 79, was behind a letter sent to the Met Police’s royal protection team in 2019 detailing ‘disturbing allegations’ of child sex abuse against Markle.

Markle is said to have told Loveless: ‘It’s legal over there – that’s how they support their families, by prostituting them.’ 

The letter was passed to Meghan at the time by royal bodyguards. After accusations against Markle were made public last month, she revealed she had never allowed him to meet her two children ‘for one reason – to protect them’. 

Markle denies all of the allegations against him. 

After years living abroad, Markle moved to the Sunshine State in the spring. He had recently relocated to a senior-living home specializing in dementia care, which costs an estimated $3,900 per month, in the lead up to his arrest.

The multinational criminal investigation into Meghan Markle’s dad has been underway ever since child porn materials were allegedly uncovered in the two locations where he has spent much of his retirement.

Markle’s son, Thomas Markle Jr, 60, allegedly discovered one hoard at the home they formerly shared in Cebu, Philippines.

Around 20 boxes were found in the storage unit near Rosarito – including some containing books about pedophilia and magazines showing children being sexually abused

A paper plate with the words ‘DARK WEB’ scribbled in red ink alongside various URLs was seen inside Thomas Markle’s rented storage unit in Rosarito, Mexico

He claimed to have later told the FBI about the location of the two Los Angeles storage units where further material was allegedly uncovered.

During the California raid, FBI agents seized approximately 78 items from the two units – including slides, film negatives and books that contained suspected child porn, court documents state.

Among the negatives developed by investigators were photos, which seemed to have been taken several decades ago, of Markle sexually abusing young girls at a Philippines motel, according to court papers.

Others allegedly showed Markle with children in various stages of undress in what the FBI now believes to be the Anahaw Lodge motel, the complaint states.

Markle had been renting the LA storage units since 2008 and made an autopay payment as recently as last month, according to a criminal complaint.

‘These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr Markle to the fullest extent of federal law,’ Essayli said.

Markle, for his part, has vehemently denied wrongdoing after news of his alleged child-porn cache first exploded into public view, telling the Daily Mail on Saturday: ‘I had no storage units in Rosarito!’

But images from inside the storage unit show a number of innocent family mementors, peppered around black-and-white prints of naked Asian females – some who appear to be conspicuously young – as well as books and magazines sexualizing children as ‘Lolitas.’

There were also strips of 35mm negatives depicting voyeuristic images of kids on a beach and dusty VHS tapes with titles including ‘Boys – Brother and Sister – Russian XX’ and ‘Manila Nites.’

The lockup also contained old computers, hard drives and a paper plate with the words ‘DARK WEB’ scribbled in red ink alongside various URLs. It is not known what is on the hard drives or video tapes.