SARASOTA, Fla. — Police in Sarasota say they have not found enough evidence to charge former Florida GOP chair Christian Ziegler with sexual battery in connection with a sexual encounter with a woman on Oct. 2, 2023.

Investigators said, however, they did find a cell phone recording of the incident and the woman involved told them she had not given Ziegler permission to film her.

Ziegler, who was ousted from his position as chairman of the Republican Party of Florida over the allegations, has maintained his innocence since the accusation was made public in late November.

The woman told detectives that she and Christian Ziegler have known each other for more than 20 years, and that she and Ziegler had previously had a three-way sexual encounter involving his wife, Bridget. The woman said that on Oct. 2, she agreed to have sex with Ziegler and his wife, but backed out after Christian Ziegler told her that his wife “couldn’t make it.”

"On October 4th, 2023, detectives from the Sarasota Police Department began an investigation into an alleged sexual battery that involved Ziegler as the suspect," the department said in a statement Friday. "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."

Sarasota police say they verified that the Oct. 2 sexual encounter between Christian Ziegler and the woman did in fact take place, but that "video showed that the encounter was likely consensual."

"After conducting an additional follow-up interview with the victim, and after showing her 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," the Friday statement from the Sarasota Police Department said.

Based on that information, investigators said they prepared at "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," the statement said.

In a statement to the Associated Press, Ziegler's attorney, Derek Byrd, said that "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,” Byrd said. “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.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story.