Rape-accused Florida GOP chair now under investigation for video voyeurism

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday

Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

The investigation into a Florida GOP Chairman’s rape allegations has been extended further into whether he also committed video voyeurism.

A new search warrant affidavit filed by a detective from the Sarasota Police Department obtained by Business Insider shows that chairman Christian Ziegler is now being investigated for the “crime of Video Voyeurism.”

Mr Ziegler was initially under police scrutiny after he was accused of raping a woman whom he and his wife Bridget Ziegler, the co-founder of right-wing, anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty, were allegedly in a long-term consensual relationship with.

The allegations were revealed in October, claiming that he entered the woman’s home on 2 October and raped her when she refused to have sex with him without his wife present, an affidavit shared with The Independent said.

The first affidavit alleges that Mr Ziegler told detectives the encounter was consensual and that he filmed it but deleted the footage when the allegations arose.

Now, it appears that investigators are looking into the video recording claims further, according to the newly unsealed affidavit filed on 11 December.

The affidavit describes that Mr Ziegler violated laws prohibiting Video Voyeurism by filming the sexual encounter without the woman’s consent.

Mr Ziegler allegedly showed investigators a two-and-a-half minute video of the sexual encounter, the affidavit obtained by the outlet said.

The investigators went on to ask the victim and Ms Ziegler about the video, both claiming they did not know about the footage and had not seen it.

“The victim did not give Ziegler consent to take this video of them having sex,” the affidavit reportedly said.

In an interview with investigators when the allegations broke, Ms Ziegler told police that she and her husband had a consensual three-way sexual encounter with the accuser around a year before the October incident.

The affidavit believes that Mr Ziegler utilised Instagram to commit Video Voyeurism and is requesting access to the GOP chairman’s Instagram account to find “additional information about his criminal activity,” the affidavit said.

Video Voyeurism in Florida is a third-degree felony of secretly recording someone for their “own amusement, entertainment, sexual arousal, gratification, or profit, or for the purpose of degrading or abusing another person” in a situation where a person “has a reasonable expectation of privacy,” according to the Florida statute.

This crime carries a punishment of up to five years in prison.

No charges have been set against Mr Ziegler as of yet, but he has already seen losses to his reputation and his political career.

The Florida Republican Party has stripped his salary to $1 in hopes that he would resign as chairman, but has yet to do so.

A meeting on 8 January between the board expects to remove him from his position formerly, according to the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

The chairman’s wife was also voted to be removed from Sarasota County School Board on a 4-to-1 vote, with only Ms Zieger herself being in opposition.

The power couple were influential in Florida, often promoting their commitment to “family values” while running for office.

Ms Zieger co-founded the ‘parent’s rights’ group Moms for Liberty, which tries to combat “gender ideology” and “critical race theory,” arguing that LGBTQ+ discourse should not be discussed in schools.

The Independent has contacted Mr Ziegler for comment.