‘Jersey Shore’ Star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro Dodges Felony Charge After Domestic Violence Arrest

“Jersey Shore” star Ronnie Ortiz-Magro has avoided a felony charge following his recent domestic violence arrest, according to reports.

The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office has transferred Ortiz-Magro’s case to the City Attorney's Office, meaning that the initial felony he faced has now been downgraded to a potential misdemeanor, PEOPLE reports. The decision was made to transfer the case due to insufficient evidence, according to TMZ.

In a statement issued to PEOPLE on Tuesday, lawyers for the reality TV star celebrated the decision.

"If this reporting is true, as we said from the beginning, initial reports and unreviewed charges are often, and in Ronnie's case, wrong," that statement reads. "We are glad the DA's office made this decision not to charge a felony. We will await a decision from the County Attorney's office."

Ronnie Ortiz-Magro Photo: Getty

Ortiz-Magro was arrested on April 22 for suspicion of intimate partner violence with injuries and priors and was released later that day after posting $100,000 bail, according to an earlier PEOPLE report. Following his arrest, Ortiz-Magro, 35, seemed to address the situation in a post on his Instagram story thanking his “real friends” for standing by him.

“I take all experiences as lessons. You learn who really cares about you when your [sic] down and out and than [sic] you see who doesn't! But I guess they call it the weeding process,” he wrote. “Thank you to my real friends who haven't left my side and haven't betrayed me.”

Ortiz-Magro’s girlfriend Saffire Matos also seemingly referred to his arrest in a social media post of her own. A post on her Instagram story called for her followers to not “believe everything you hear or read online," Page Six reports.

“With anybody who reached out with concern I appreciate it with all my heart, but everything that’s being portrayed out there are not facts,” she wrote.

Ortiz-Magro was on probation for a previous domestic violence case when he was arrested in April. He'd been arrested in 2019 following a violent altercation with his then-partner Jen Harley; the pair were staying in an Airbnb in Los Angeles with their infant daughter when the police had to be called to settle a domestic dispute. Ortiz-Magro allegedly assaulted Harley during an argument and then chased after her outside of the house with a knife in one hand and their daughter held in the other, according to TMZ. He then reportedly locked himself in the house with his daughter and did not let police inside, prompting them to break in and arrest him forcefully with the use of a taser, according to the TMZ report.

After being charged with domestic violence, child endangerment, brandishing a weapon, resisting arrest, making criminal threats, and false imprisonment, Ortiz-Magro reached a plea deal with prosecutors. A judge in May 2020 ordered the “Jersey Shore: Family Reunion” star to undergo a 52-week domestic violence rehabilitation program, complete 30 days of community service, donate $20,000 to a women’s shelter, and submit to a 36-month probationary period, according to TMZ. It is unclear how his recent arrest may affect his probation.