Meghan Markle's father out on bond after arrest

We continue to follow new developments tonight in the arrest of Meghan Markle's father right here in the Bay Area. This is a soap opera. This is drama that continues to unfold before our eyes, but these are very serious allegations. Thomas Markle now facing federal charges for possession of child sexual abuse material. The arrest happening at a senior care home in Lakeland. And just about 90 minutes ago, this was the scene at the federal courthouse in downtown Tampa as Markle was released on bond. Two white vans pull out of the courthouse with him in one of those vans. He will likely be processed as a federal inmate before heading back to the care facility. Our Fox 13's Carla Byron joins us live from Lakeland tonight. Carla, it looks like Thomas will be staying at that facility while he awaits potential extradition back to California. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. So a federal judge granted Thomas Markle bond this afternoon in Tampa. He's going to stay here at this facility with GPS monitoring. He will also have to submit to a mental health evaluation. And then after that, he could have a local hearing and then he could be extradited back to California. The federal complaint states law enforcement was tipped off by his son after suspected child sexual abuse material was discovered amongst Markle's belongings in the Philippines. That tip of They eventually led FBI agents to those two storage units in California when investigators executed search warrants, they seized nearly 80 items, including film negatives and slides. The affidavit states some of the images depict an adult man identified by a witness as Markle with young prepubescent girls. Investigators say these photos were taken in the Philippines based on some furniture and decorations in the room. Defense attorney Anthony Rickman says the government will attempt to prove possession through the storage units and what was found inside there and the knowledge that he has been identified in the photographs. There is unfortunately something called sex tourism where people go out of the country to engage in human trafficking. I would anticipate the government investigating his travels, his travels to the Philippines. In conjunction with the Philippine nation, I anticipate them to be involved in coordinating with our government in investigating him to see if there is potentially a human trafficking element to this crime. Now we are keeping an eye out here for those white vans for when they come in and drop Markle off here at the facility. We haven't seen them yet. We believe it's possible he could be, he could have been processed at the Pinellas County Jail. So they made just a quick stop there before coming here. But you know, if If this doesn't happen here tonight, then it could potentially happen here tomorrow, but we're just, like I said, waiting out here to see if he's going to show up. Now, if convicted on his federal charge, he could face up to 20 years in prison. Carla, quick question for you. Yeah, sorry to interrupt you there. Can you tell us more about that facility and why has he been staying there? Yeah, sorry, I heard a helicopter in the in the air. So I was just taking a look at that. But so this facility is called Casa Vita Senior Living Facility. And based off of reports from the British publication, The Daily Mail, Markle Who is 82. He has suffered from some health issues, including he had a stroke. He had to undergo a leg amputation. And then he also has been dealing with a dementia diagnosis as well. Okay. And Carla, we know that Meghan and her father have been estranged for many years now. Has she said anything publicly about this arrest? No, she hasn't. And honestly, we don't really expect her to. Her team hasn't put anything out. Buckingham Palace hasn't put anything out about this. Apparently, these allegations came to light back in 2019. When it was reported to London police and at that time, Meghan had said that she was deeply distressed by these allegations and it was because of this, she had made the decision to cut ties with her father and to keep her children away from him because according to her, she wanted to protect her children. Wow. Okay. Carla Byron live for us in Lakeland tonight. Carla, thank you.