TAMPA, Florida — November 5, 2025 — Republican political figures Christian and Bridget Ziegler have filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Sarasota and two Sarasota Police Department detectives, alleging that officers violated their constitutional rights during a 2023 investigation that never resulted in criminal charges.
According to the complaint filed October 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, the Zieglers accuse Detectives Angela Cox and Maria Llovio of conducting an “egregious abuse of power” that included obtaining overbroad search warrants, seizing private communications, and omitting exculpatory evidence from judicial review.
The lawsuit states that Sarasota police “downloaded the entirety of Mr. Ziegler’s cell phone,” accessing more than 470,000 photos and 30,000 videos, including confidential marital and attorney-client communications. The Zieglers allege this violated their rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments.
Bridget Ziegler, a Sarasota County School Board member and co-founder of Moms for Liberty, claims the couple’s private messages were unlawfully included in police reports that later became public. “It is as if the Defendants intentionally did an end-run around the Constitution and state law,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit recounts that in October 2023, police opened a sexual assault investigation against Christian Ziegler after a woman accused him of misconduct. Within days, police learned of a video Ziegler said cleared him of wrongdoing. The suit claims detectives knew about the video but still executed a sweeping search warrant. “The exculpatory nature of the video was immediately apparent to everyone who viewed it,” the filing says.
The State Attorney’s Office declined to file charges in March 2024. By then, Christian Ziegler had resigned as chair of the Republican Party of Florida, and both plaintiffs say they suffered severe professional and reputational harm.
The couple is seeking compensatory damages for attorney’s fees and lost wages, as well as punitive damages for “mental anguish, pain and suffering, and humiliation and embarrassment.” The City of Sarasota and the detectives have not yet filed a response. A spokesperson for the Sarasota Police Department declined to comment on pending litigation.
