Amber Portwood has been released from jail on bail after pleading not guilty to charges she assaulted Gary Shirley, her child's father and ex-fiance, and having a no contact order issued against her.
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Portwood, a 20-year-old from Anderson, IN, was released on $5,000 bail around 4PM ET on Tuesday after a not guilty plea was reportedly entered on her behalf during an early afternoon court appearance. However due to the nature of the charges, she was still required to serve a 24-hour hold, which delayed her release.
"It is fairly common for someone to be placed on a 24-hour hold when they have these types of charges," a Madison County Sheriff's Department spokesman told E! News. "It is nothing unusual."
According to E! News, Shirley is the primary victim and recipient of the protective order, but it will also bar the Teen Mom star from having contact with her two-year-old daughter Leah.
"There will be a protective order in place to protect the victim of the offense," a spokesman for the Madison County Sheriff's Department told E! News.
Indiana prosecutors formally charged Portwood after the Anderson Police Department conducted a domestic abuse investigation into allegations that Portwood had assaulted Shirley by punching and kicking him in front of Leah on an episode of Teen Mom which aired on MTV back in late September.
Portwood and Shirley reportedly split after the dispute, but it still raised the concerns of Child Protective Services and local police, who obtained MTV's raw, unaired footage of the argument as part of their investigation which concluded with a recommendation that prosecutors file criminal charges against the Teen Mom star.
After completing their investigation, police alleged that Portwood actually attacked Shirley on three different times over a 12-month period.
According to police documents, Portwood shoved, slapped and choked Shirley on August 14, 2009; slapped, punched and kicked him again on June 14; and then slapped and punched him once more on July 18. Leah was reportedly watching nearby during all three incidents.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
