Lakeland, Fla. (970 WFLA) - A former State Representative from Polk County who ran for Agriculture Commissioner last year faces battery and aggravated battery charges for assaults on his wife, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. Deputies booked Baxter Troutman, 52, into the Polk County jail at 1:03 a.m. Sunday for an incident that his wife said happened Wednesday after he learned that she planned to buy a home in her own name in Lakeland, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Rebecca Troutman told deputies that early the next morning her husband yanked a comforter off her bed as she tried to sleep so hard that it knocked her onto the floor. And that he later returned, "grabbed her under the chin and jaw and on her face, saying '(bleep), get up.'"
She said that back in September of 2018, he struck her in the nose after she refused to give him the passcode to her cell phone so that he could examine its contents. And that in 2015, he broke her pinky finger when he twisted her hand. The Troutmans have been married for ten years, according to the affidavit. Rebecca Troutman told deputies that she and Baxter had slept in separate rooms for several years.
Baxter Troutman served in the Florida House between 2002 and 2010. He finished third in the Republican primary race for Agriculture Commissioner in 2018. He is the grandson of Florida cattle and citrus magnate Ben Hill Griffin, Jr.
Photo of Baxter Troutman courtesy of the Polk Co. Jail.