'Jersey Shore' star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro avoids jail in domestic violence case filed by ex Jen Harley
Ronnie Ortiz-Magro of 'Jersey Shore' fame is not going to jail. He has managed to strike a plea deal and pleaded no contest to a single count of domestic battery and another count of resisting arrest. The incident took place on October 4, 2019, in the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles. Police were called to a home where Ortiz-Magro was staying with Jen Harley and their then 20-month-old baby girl.
On October 4, Ortiz-Magro was taken into custody after he chased after Harley with a knife in one hand and allegedly his toddler Ariana in the other, at 2.30 am. He was yelling at Harley to get inside the house but after a point, he dropped the knife and locked himself and his daughter inside. Police had to bring down the door after he refused to oblige to come out of the house. The authorities were convinced that the situation could be hard to contain and that is the reason they decided to use a taser to immobilize him, TMZ reported.
While he managed to evade the jail sentence, Ortiz-Magro will be on probation for three whole years. He will also be required to commit to community labor for 30 days in his home state of Nevada. The sentencing also requires him to pay $20,000 to the Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles, a women’s shelter. US Weekly reported that he will also have to complete a 52-week domestic violence program in Nevada and abide by a three-year protection order.
The kidnapping charges by the Los Angeles County District Attorney on Ortiz-Magro were dropped in favor of the misdemeanor charges and the case was bumped over to the Los Angeles City Attorney.
"The suspect and victim were involved in some type of physical altercation. When officers arrived they had to deploy their tasers on the suspect and minor use of force occurred," an LAPD spokesman said at the time. "There was a child at that location. That child was unharmed."
Ortiz-Magro's lawyers alleged that there was a violent incident between the troubled couple on January 11 this year that left him as the victim of the assault. So far no charges have been filed in the incident, according to his lawyers.
The couple has had a history of domestic squabbles and arrests. Harley purportedly threw an ashtray at Ortiz-Magro during an altercation at the Hustler Club in Las Vegas on December 31. He filed a battery report with the police after he was struck in the face but the charges were dropped later.
In June 2018, Harley was arrested on a domestic battery charge after allegedly dragging Ortiz-Magro with a car in Las Vegas. The couple was driving home with their child from a barbecue when the incident took place. Ortiz-Magro reportedly asked Harley to pull over, at which point she allegedly took off driving while he was caught in the seat belt and it resulted in him suffering a rash and a bruised face. However, the case was “denied due to insufficient evidence", the Clark County district attorney said at the time.
Ortiz-Magro hopes he can “move forward" from these events. "I mean, one day at a time," Ortiz-Magro said about the arrest in the April 23 episode of 'Jersey Shore Family Vacation'. "A bunch of unfortunate events that were completely out of my control, and all I can do is stay away from the situation that got me to where that is," he said.
"All I can do is move forward and hope it never happens again, and just grow as a person and grow as a man and grow as a father. That's all I can really do," he added.
Ortiz-Magro and Harley's lawyers are yet to comment about the recent development in the case.