The State Attorney’s Office in Sarasota announced Wednesday that it will not file any charges against ex-Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler. The move comes after police recommended a video voyeurism charge against Ziegler, who recorded a sexual encounter with a woman who later accused him of rape. Prosecutors had also declined earlier this year to pursue sexual battery charges against Ziegler due to a lack of evidence.
Ziegler, who was removed from party leadership in January, had been the subject of a months-long investigation beginning in October. He had previously engaged in a consensual, three-way relationship with the woman, which included his wife Bridget Ziegler–a co-founder of Moms for Liberty.
A recording of the encounter was turned in to police, who later said,
“The video showed that the encounter was likely consensual. Therefore, detectives were unable to develop probable cause to charge Ziegler with Sexual Battery.”
After initially saying she was unaware of the recording, the woman reportedly told investigators that “she could have consented to the video being taken – she is simply unable to recall one way or the other,” according to an official memo. Police attributed inconsistencies in the victim’s account to “substantial intoxication and trauma” that she was experiencing.
This week, prosecutors announced that they would not proceed with filing any criminal charges against Ziegler,
“The Victim’s expressed inability to recall whether she consented to recording the sexual activity along with her inconsistencies pertaining to key details of the event leave the State unable to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the video in question was filmed without her knowledge of consent. Accordingly, no charges will be filed.”
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Shortly after the allegations, Ziegler faced calls to resign from his position as Chair of the Republican Party of Florida. While maintaining his innocence throughout the investigation, a closed-door vote ultimately forced him out of the position.
Following the announcement Wednesday, an attorney for Ziegler said his client was “relieved to be completely cleared of the false allegations and any criminal wrongdoing.”
We cooperated at every stage of the investigation, and as difficult as it was, we remained quiet out of respect for the investigation. On day one, we said that Mr. Ziegler was completely innocent. We asked everyone not to rush to judgement, and reminded everyone to presume Mr. Ziegler innocent – as the Constitution instructs. Unfortunately, many did not award that courtesy to Mr. Ziegler, damaging his family, career, and reputation throughout this process.”
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Police documents revealed during the investigation that Ziegler had instructed his wife to find a threesome partner and had the names of several women filed on his phone under “THE LIST.” In text messages with his wife, Ziegler had previously referred to the alleged victim as “an alcoholic, nice person with some issues.” Bridget Ziegler expressed concern to her husband that the woman was “going through some sh*t.”
After Bridget Ziegler admitted to participating in the three-way relationship, the Sarasota School Board voted 4-1 to urge her to resign from her position on the board. She has refused to step down.
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