Midnight Intruder Arrested at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's California Estate
An unsettling incident unfolded at the California residence of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle when a 29-year-old man was apprehended for allegedly stalking the property in the early hours of Monday.
The suspect, identified as Kevin Garcia Valdovinos, was apprehended around 2 a.m. by the royal couple's security team, who spotted him lurking near their Montecito home. He was subsequently arrested and charged with misdemeanor stalking, according to TMZ. Valdovinos was later released on $2,500 bail.
It remains unclear if the Duke and Duchess of Sussex or their two young children, Archie, 4, and Lilibet, 1, were present at the mansion during the incident.
The incident coincided with Markle's trip to New York City, where she was accompanied by Prince Harry and her mother, Doria, on Tuesday evening. The former actress was honored at the Ms. Foundation awards ceremony, receiving the 2023 Women of Vision Award for her global advocacy efforts to uplift and advocate for women and girls.
The opulent Montecito property, a sprawling 18,000-square-foot home set on 5.4 acres of land, was purchased by the Sussexes for $14.5 million in 2020.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time the royal couple's California haven has attracted unwanted attention. In 2020, an Ohio man named Nickolas Brooks trespassed on the estate on Christmas Eve and was issued a warning. When Brooks returned to the property two days later, he was cited for misdemeanor trespassing. His intentions, however, remained ambiguous.
"I don’t know why I went to their place, that’s kind of where I ended up. I drove across the country — I know it’s crazy," Brooks confessed to The Sun in March 2021, adding that he was instructed to avoid the property in the future.
Entertainment Times has reached out to the Santa Barbara Police Department for additional details regarding the recent incident. The repeated breaches of security at the Sussexes' residence highlight the ongoing privacy concerns faced by the high-profile couple since their move to the US.