“Teen Mom” star Jenelle Evans is calling out North Carolina cops after they claimed she made up her husband’s dog-killing incident to gain publicity.
Evans, 27, told The Hollywood Gossip on Thursday that when the Columbus County, North Carolina, Sheriff’s Office called her to investigate husband David Eason for animal cruelty over allegedly shooting and killing pooch Nugget, she said, “Yes, what you heard is true about my dog.”
She says she told police, “This isn’t a publicity stunt and I’m not sure where my dog is or what happened to my dog but you would have to call David and ask. I was inside my house with my kids when David went outside with the dog.”
But earlier on Thursday, the sheriff’s office sent out a press release, obtained by Page Six, alleging Evans said the reason she filed the animal cruelty report was “for the publicity and because she did not know where her dog was.”
According to the reality star, the chief of police was the one who first brought up the issue of whether Evans was seeking attention from the public.
“He said to me, ‘Mrs. Eason, I need to know the truth about this situation. I have many media outlets calling me about it and I want to tell you right now if this is a publicity stunt, you need to tell me because I have other cases including things like rape that I have to deal with,” she told The Hollywood Gossip. “If you are doing it for publicity, then I understand and will close the case and you can go about your business.”
Evans said when police asked her about whether she heard gunshots at her North Carolina home, she said she could not say whether any of them were related to Eason killing her French bulldog.
She also confirmed police claims that no physical evidence was found on their property that would incriminate Eason, saying, “That’s true. They didn’t find anything against me in any sort of way. I never broke the law to begin with.”
Evans then accused the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office of blasting her for their own public interest, alleging that one of the officers even called to “harass” her.
“I honestly think they are doing this for their own publicity because they could have wrote up their ‘press release’ weeks ago,” she said. “I’ve never in my life dealt with a police department ever ‘releasing a press statement’ about their investigations. I feel very attacked and exploited for no reason.”
The Columbus County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment on Evans’ remarks, telling Page Six, “We have released the media release in reference to this case. No other statements or information will be released.”
The department previously told us, “At this time, we are not charging Jenelle Evans” over their allegations that she “made up” the story. No charges will be filed in the animal cruelty case against Eason, either.
On June 30, Eason seemingly admitted to killing Eason’s dog on social media after the pooch allegedly snapped at the couple’s 2-year-old daughter, Ensley.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, he said, “I dont give a damn what animal bites my baby on the face … whether it be your dog or mine, a dog is a dog and I dont put up with that s–t at all. I’m all about protecting my family, it is my lifes mission. Some people are worth killing or dying for and my family means that much to me.”
Immediately following the alleged killing, a rep told us that Evans and Eason were working on their relationship and planned to attend therapy.
Evans confirmed to The Hollywood Gossip that she is committed to Eason, saying she thinks he “really learned his lesson from all his past mistakes.”
She added, “He completed anger management classes, we did co-parenting classes together, and he stopped posting to social media for a while now. He will use Snapchat here and there but nothing too opinionated anymore.”