Ex-Florida GOP leader Ziegler won’t be charged in rape allegation, but police seek other charge

Police investigating an allegation of rape against former Florida GOP chairperson Christian Ziegler say they now believe the sex was “likely consensual,” but that he could face a felony charge over a video he took of the encounter.

Sarasota police said that detectives had insufficient evidence to charge Ziegler with sexual battery after a woman alleged in October that he had raped her at her home. Police said that they had also sent a probable cause affidavit for the felony crime of video voyeurism to prosecutors for review on Friday after the alleged victim said she was unaware that Ziegler had filmed the two of them together.

“During the investigation, the detectives conducted nearly one dozen interviews, issued numerous subpoenas, reviewed hours of surveillance footage, and searched through a substantial number of images and videos on cell phones and their respective cloud data backups,” Sarasota police said in a news release issued through spokesperson Cynthia McLaughlin, adding that Ziegler has cooperated with Sarasota police.

The State Attorney’s Office told the Times/Herald that there was no one immediately available Friday afternoon to comment on the case.

In a statement, Ziegler’s attorney, Derek Byrd, said the outcome of the rape investigation had exonerated Ziegler and that he was disappointed to see police had “punted” the rest of the case to prosecutors. He also said, “We strongly believe that the State Attorney will not prosecute Mr. Ziegler for any crime.”

“As we did with the Sarasota Police Department, we will allow the state to conduct its investigation with full cooperation from Mr. Ziegler. We will also not comment on the ongoing investigation until it is completed,” Byrd said.

Police began investigating Ziegler in October after they say a woman claimed he had sexually assaulted her after a proposition for a threesome with him and his wife had fallen through. She said she had previously had sex with Ziegler and his spouse, but that this time, Bridget Ziegler, a Moms for Liberty co-founder, backed out, so she had canceled. But the former GOP chairperson showed up anyway, she said, and forced himself on her.

During the course of their investigation, police say Ziegler showed them a 2½-minute video he’d recorded of the encounter, prompting an expansion of the investigation out of concern that Ziegler may have made the recording illegally.

Under Florida law, it’s illegal to record another person “for his or her own amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification, or profit, or for the purposes of degrading or abusing” them.

In a news release Friday, police said the Oct. 2 video showed the sexual encounter was “likely consensual,” leaving them unable to “develop probable cause to charge Ziegler with sexual battery.” The video also led them to interview the woman, who told investigators she did not consent to being videotaped and that she did not know she was being filmed.

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During a November interview with investigators, Byrd mentioned the woman had messaged Ziegler on Instagram after the encounter to ask if he had shown the video to his wife. According to a Dec. 8 search warrant affidavit, that message was sent in Instagram’s “vanish” mode, which makes content — including messages, photos and videos — disappear after being viewed.

Bridget Ziegler told detectives that she had not been aware of the video’s existence, according to the affidavit.

The sex scandal led to intraparty turmoil at the Republican Party of Florida, which last week formally ousted Ziegler as its chairperson. He was replaced by Evan Power, a Tallahassee lobbyist who previously ran against Ziegler for the job and had been serving as the party’s vice chairperson.