SARASOTA, Fla. — Sarasota police are recommending a video voyeurism charge be filed against Christian Ziegler after a woman accused the former state GOP chair of rape.
The department said in a statement Friday that the case has been forwarded to the State Attorney's Office for further review.
Ziegler, who was ousted earlier this month as the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, previously admitted to police he and his wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, had a consensual sexual relationship with another woman. It was in October when the woman accused him of raping her in her apartment.
The couple and the woman had planned a sexual threesome, but Bridget Ziegler was unable to attend. The woman claimed Christian Ziegler still showed up and assaulted her.
He had argued his innocence since.
According to a search warrant obtained by 10 Tampa Bay earlier this month, detectives say he recorded the sexual encounter and showed the video to investigators while claiming it was consensual. Although Christian Ziegler's lawyers claimed he sent the video of the sexual encounter to the woman on Instagram vanish mode, detectives say that neither the woman nor Bridget Ziegler knew anything about the video being recorded.
Recording a sexual encounter without a person's consent in Florida is punishable as a third-degree felony that carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison.
"The video showed that the encounter was likely consensual," the Sarasota Police Department said in its statement. "Therefore, detectives were unable to develop probable cause to charge Ziegler with sexual battery.
"After conducting an additional follow-up interview with the victim and after showing the victim the video recording of the sex act, the victim advised Sarasota Police detectives that she was unaware and did not consent to being video recorded."
Christian Ziegler's lawyer in a statement said while they're "disappointed" the police department "punted" the case, his client will not be prosecuted.
"Since day one, we have been confident Mr. Ziegler would be exonerated from these baseless allegations. He has been completely honest, forthright, and has fully cooperative with law enforcement at every stage of this investigation," the statement read, in part.
Bridget Ziegler is not accused of a crime but members of the Sarasota School Board asked her to resign last month, and she refused. The majority of more than 60 speakers at a meeting earlier this week again called on her to step down.