Less than a week after Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, 35, was arrested on “suspicion of intimate partner violence,” the Jersey Shore alum broke his silence via his Instagram Story. “I am grateful for all of my real friends!” he posted on Monday (Apr. 26.) “Thank you for being by [my side] the last few week(sic),” he wrote. “I take all experiences as lessons. You learn who really cares about you when [you’re] down and out,” he added, citing that “I guess they call it the weeding process.” Ronnie also gave thanks to “my real friends who haven’t left my side and haven’t betrayed me.”
Ronnie also added a pair of lengthy, misspelled hashtags that thanked his friends. “Because of you guys, I feel blessed,” he said, in Hashtag, along with “Thank you for stopping me from drowning and not being the [one] who would hold my head underwater.” This statement came four days after Ronnie was arrested in Los Angeles over his alleged involvement “in a domestic violence incident,” the LAPD’s public information officer confirmed to HollywoodLife. Ronnie was taken to jail and was subsequently released later that day on $100,000 bail.
“We have just learned of the new allegations against Ronnie and need some additional time to further investigate,” his lawyer told PEOPLE at the time of the arrest. “As such, we will not be making any other statements at this time.” The arrest comes while Ronnie is still on probation stemming from an Oct. 2019 incident involving his ex-girlfriend, Jen Harley. Ronnie allegedly got into a physical argument with Jen before allegedly chasing her out of their L.A. Airbnb rental home while he held a knife and their daughter, Ariana. Ronnie denied that he never picked up or threatened Jen with a knife and pled not guilty to seven misdemeanors — domestic violence, child endangerment, brandishing a weapon, criminal threats, false imprisonment, and two counts of resisting arrest.
Ultimately, Ronnie cut a deal in May 2020. He pled to one count of domestic battery and one count of resisting arrest, which put him on 36 months of probation. It’s unclear what this latest arrest means for Ronnie’s freedom, as the specific details surrounding this new legal drama remain unknown.