Sarasota police are expanding their criminal investigation into Christian Ziegler, the embattled chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, to include video voyeurism, a felony that carries a possible five-year prison penalty. Ziegler has been accused of rape by the same woman he and his wife, a Moms for Liberty co-founder and school board member who helped draft Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law, admit to having a three-way sexual relationship with.
According to a search warrant affidavit, police believe Christian Ziegler unlawfully filmed his alleged rape of the woman, which he claims was consensual. They have obtained a search warrant for Ziegler’s Instagram account, which they believe contains “evidence of the crime,” according to the Florida Trident, which also first broke the news of the rape allegation against Ziegler and of the three-way relationship.
The woman, who has not been named, says she was not aware Ziegler had filmed the encounter.
The alleged rape occurred after the woman canceled a planned three-way sexual encounter with the Zieglers, known as Florida’s Republican “power couple,” upon learning Bridget Ziegler, Christian’s wife who has strong ties to Gov. DeSantis, was not available.
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“Detectives spoke with both the victim and Ziegler’s wife,” Sarasota Police Det. Megan Buck wrote in the search warrant affidavit. “The victim did not give Ziegler consent to take this video of them having sex. Neither … Ziegler’s wife or the victim knew anything about this video that had been taken of the sexual encounter on 10/02/23, and neither had seen the video of this encounter.”
The Herald-Tribune adds, “A Sarasota police detective wrote in the search warrant affidavit for Instagram records that she believes ‘probable cause exists to show (Zeigler) has utilized Instagram to commit the crime of Video Voyeurism.'”
Police have obtained two sex videos of the Zieglers: the one Christian reportedly filmed of the alleged rape, and a second one, of Bridget Ziegler “engaging in sexual relations” with an unidentified woman, sources said, according to a previous report by the Trident. “It is not known if the woman in the video is the same woman who has alleged she was sexually assaulted by Christian Ziegler.”
Bridget Ziegler confirmed the married couple had a three-way sexual relationship with the woman now accusing Christian Ziegler of sexual battery. She stood right behind DeSantis, now a GOP presidential candidate, when he signed his “Don’t Say Gay” legislation into law, an act some have called hypocritical given her consensual three-way sexual relationship and that both helped write and promote the legislation.
Last month the Republican Party of Florida stripped Christian Ziegler of his $120,000 annual salary and responsibilities, finding him unfit to serve. He has refused to resign, but reportedly is willing to step down if handed a massive payout, allegedly up to $2 million.
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