‘I’m going to kill you’: Records show House candidate Mike Levine arrested for domestic battery on girlfriend in 1998

Mike Levine. Image via Facebook.

House District 26 candidate Mike Levine was arrested in 1998 for allegedly beating a live-in girlfriend and threatening to kill her.

Osceola County court records show that a woman told county law enforcement that Levine punched her in the face before shouting, “I’m going to kill you bitch.” That’s according to a charging affidavit for the then-40-year-old Levine, who was booked on a charge of domestic battery.

Prosecutors ultimately dropped the case. But the accusations have resurfaced as Levine, now 66, runs for the Legislature in HD 26. The former Lake County Republican Party Chair has added $150,000 in candidate loans to finance a campaign for the open seat.

But more than a quarter century ago, his interaction with the state of Florida was as a defendant.

On Sept. 4, 1998, Levine’s girlfriend called 911 and said an argument turned physical.

According to a charging affidavit, members of law enforcement were called to Levine’s Kissimmee home and found the woman upset and crying. She told officers Levine had started arguing with her for not going to work that day. She said when the two were in their bedroom, Levine punched her in the face, grabbed her around her neck with his hands and pulled her off the bed.

After he made the threat on her life, the woman said she called 911.

Officer James Sauls wrote that when he arrived on scene, the woman had red marks on both sides of her neck. Those were the only visible injuries. Levine, meanwhile, didn’t have a mark on him.

Dispatchers had a record of a prior disturbance call at Levine’s Hawk Drive home a couple months prior the same year, in April 1998. Sauls wrote there was no evidence of alcohol or drug use.

When Florida Politics contacted Levine, he hung up the phone immediately when asked about the incident.

The incident happened about two years after Levine founded The Kissimmee Real Estate Company. That business still serves as Levine’s primary source of income today, according to financial disclosures. State business records show the business in 1998 operated out of the same Kissimmee home where Levine lived at the time of the arrest. Osceola County property records show he sold the home in 2001.

After the arrest, courts appointed a public defender for Levine. A bail bonds company posted a $2,500 bond on Sept. 9, five days after the arrest.

Prosecutors, though, on Oct. 13 notified the court that the case was being abandoned, and on Oct. 19 said the information in the case was not suitable for prosecution.

According to Levine’s candidate biography, he served the next year as President of the Osceola County Association of Realtors.

Levine filed last year to succeed Rep. Keith Truenow, a Tavares Republican running for Senate this year. He faces former Eustis City Commissioner Nan Cobb, conservative activist Keither Farner and Lake County Realtor Addie Owens in an Aug. 20 Republican Primary. The winner will face Mount Dora Democrat Jackie Arndt in the General Election.

Cobb said she was upset to hear about the prior arrest after Florida Politics reported it.

“This is incredibly disturbing news that highlights the severely flawed nature of Mr. Levines character, or lack thereof,” Cobbs said. “The voters will have to decide if they want someone with these types of flaws to be their voice in Tallahassee.”