SARASOTA -- After a three month investigation Sarasota police say they are referring a potential charge of video voyeurism for ousted Florida Republican Party chair Christian Ziegler to the State Attorney's Office
The police department says in a news release that it can't bring a sexual battery charge because it appears a sexual encounter recorded by Ziegler October 2nd was consensual, but the alleged victim says she didn't give consent to be recorded.
Ziegler's attorney says he's disappointed that police "punted" to prosecutors. Ziegler was forced out as chair earlier this month.
Police say they conducted almost a dozen interviews, reviewed hours of surveillance footage and searched through "substantial" numbers of images and videos on cell phones and cloud backups. They say Ziegler cooperated with them.
The State Attorney's Office will decide whether Ziegler will face charges.
Reports say the alleged victim had an ongoing relationship with Ziegler and his wife Bridget, who has not faced any charges. She has rejected calls to resign from the Sarasota School Board.
Below are statements from Sarasota Police and Ziegler's attorney Derek Byrd:
"In response to an investigation initiated in October 2023, the Sarasota Police Department has forwarded a case involving Christian Ziegler to the State Attorney's Office.
On October 4th, 2023, detectives from the Sarasota Police Department began an investigation into an alleged sexual battery that involved Ziegler as the suspect. 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.
As a result of the lengthy investigation, Sarasota Police detectives found video evidence that on October 2nd, 2023, a sexual encounter occurred between the victim and Christian Ziegler. Ziegler recorded the encounter on his cell phone. The video showed that the encounter was likely consensual. 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.
On January 19th, 2024, the investigators prepared a probable cause affidavit for the felony crime of Video Voyeurism against Christian Ziegler. This affidavit was subsequently sent to the State Attorney’s Office for further review. As with all cases, Sarasota Police detectives handled this case with the utmost diligence and impartiality. Ziegler has cooperated with Sarasota Police throughout the investigation.
The Sarasota Police Department remains committed to upholding the law and ensuring justice is served. The Twelfth Judicial Circuit Office of the State Attorney will provide further updates as this case progresses through the legal system.'
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"I can confirm that the Sarasota Police Department has concluded its criminal investigation into Mr. Ziegler. After a very thorough investigation, law enforcement concluded that there is no probable cause, a very low standard, that Mr. Ziegler perpetrated a sexual assault on the accuser. It has been difficult to stay quiet knowing Mr. Zeigler was innocent, but we did so in order for law enforcement to conduct its due diligence. Since day one, we have been confident Mr. Ziegler would be exonerated from these baseless allegations. He has been completely honest, forthright, and has been fully cooperative with law enforcement at every stage of this investigation.
At the beginning of the investigation, we asked and warned the public to withhold judgment of criminal wrongdoing until a thorough investigation of the facts was complete. Sadly, many people and media outlets refused to give Mr. Ziegler that courtesy. That was unfair and unfortunate and has caused irreparable harm to Mr. Ziegler's reputation, his personal life, professional life, and his family.
While we are disappointed that the Sarasota Police Department "punted" the decision on the remaining portion of the case to the State Attorney's office, 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.
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