International Courant
Police are increasing their investigation into Florida GOP Chairman Christian Ziegler, who got here beneath the microscope in October after a rape accusation.
Detectives are actually wanting into whether or not he dedicated video voyeurism by secretly recording the sufferer throughout the alleged sexual encounter, FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported.
Ziegler is accused of raping a girl with whom he and his spouse, Mothers for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, had a previous consensual sexual relationship, based on police information.
Police paperwork say the Zieglers and the girl had deliberate a sexual encounter that day, however Bridget Ziegler was unable to make it. The accuser says Christian Ziegler arrived anyway and assaulted her on Oct. 2. The encounter was reported to police two days later.
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Christian Ziegler, seen right here with President Trump, has not been charged with a criminal offense and says he’s harmless, contending the encounter was consensual. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel through AP)
In a Nov. 2 interview with detectives, Ziegler talked about the video. He stated he deleted it, then recovered it after the rape allegation surfaced.
“The search warrant dated December 8, stated Ziegler confirmed detectives the 2 and a half minute video of the sexual encounter. He maintained that it was consensual,” FOX 13 states.
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Christian Ziegler addresses attendees on the Republican Celebration of Florida Freedom Summit, Nov. 4, 2023, in Kissimmee, Fla. (AP Photograph/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
That very same day, a decide granted entry to Ziegler’s Instagram account. Ziegler’s legal professional, Derek Byrd, stated the sufferer requested if he had proven his spouse the video in a message despatched utilizing “vanish mode.”
Neither the alleged sufferer, whose identification has been redacted in police information, nor Bridget Ziegler stated they “knew something about this video … and neither had seen the video,” the Tampa Bay Occasions reported.
Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler is the topic of prison sexual battery investigation. (Paul Hennessy/SOPA Pictures/LightRocket through Getty Pictures)
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Video voyeurism is a third-degree felony in Florida, which the regulation says includes taking video with out the consent of somebody who’s “dressing, undressing, or privately exposing the physique, at a spot and time when that individual has an affordable expectation of privateness” for the needs of “amusement, leisure, sexual arousal, gratification, or revenue, or for the aim of degrading or abusing one other individual.”
Police say no expenses have been filed towards Ziegler presently.
