Former Florida GOP chairman not charged in alleged sexual assault: police

The Sarasota, Florida, Police Department announced Friday that it will not charge Christian Ziegler, the former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, following an investigation into a reported sexual assault.

However, investigators said they submitted an affidavit of probable cause for the crime of video voyeurism after Ziegler allegedly filmed a woman’s sexual encounter without her consent.

Ziegler was accused in October of sexually assaulting a woman with whom he and his wife, Bridget Ziegler, co-founder of Moms for Liberty and a Sarasota County School board member, had a consensual sexual relationship.

Ziegler, who investigators said was cooperating with the investigation, denied the sexual assault allegations. He initially did not comment on the latest allegations.

A lawyer for him said in a statement to news outlets in December, in part: “We are confident that once the police investigation is completed, no charges will be filed and Mr. Ziegler will be fully exonerated.”

Police said they “conducted nearly a dozen interviews, issued numerous subpoenas, reviewed hours of surveillance footage and searched a significant number of images and videos on cell phones and their respective cloud backups.”

During the investigation, investigators said they discovered a video of the sexual encounter between Ziegler and the victim, which was allegedly recorded on his cellphone.

The video allegedly showed the encounter was consensual and investigators were unable to find probable cause to charge Ziegler with sexual assault, according to Sarasota police.

When investigators showed the victim the video, she claimed she did not consent to being filmed, police said.

Investigators said they have sent their affidavit regarding the video’s alleged voyeurism to prosecutors for further review.

Earlier this month, the Florida GOP voted him out of office following the allegations.

State party deputy chairman Evan Power was elected as the new chairman.

“What we did today was come together, close this chapter and move forward to continue winning elections in Florida,” Power told reporters after the vote.

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.