Just over one month ago on December 31st, 2019, TMZ had reported on a situation involving Bucs defensive tackle Rakeem “Nacho” Nunez-Roches, where Nunez-Roches was accused of abandoning his Cane Corso dog Jitterbug on the side of a road.

On Wednesday, Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk reported that Nunez-Roches and his wife have received multiple threats over this allegation that they vehemently deny. Nunez-Roches and his wife Tyrielle have been breeding French Bulldogs and Pocket American Bulldogs since 2017 and have expressed often on social media about their love of dogs.

Nunez-Roches released a statement through his agent Jeff Nalley, where he denies these allegations and explains how they gave their dog Jitterbug to another family prior to the incident that occurred.

Listed below is an excerpt from Nunez-Roches’ statement.

“Recently, a few animal rights individuals in Tampa began telling a story about us abandoning a Cane Corso on a road in Tampa that ended up in an animal shelter. First of all, the story is completely false. We would never abandon a dog. We were expecting our first baby, so we thought it would be safer to have only smaller dogs in the house. Jitterbug is a Cane Corso, which is an Italian Mastiff and not a pit bull as was incorrectly reported, and we gave her to a family that wanted one. We have no idea how she ended up in an animal shelter, but we absolutely did not and would never abandon her or any other dog. We have all of our dogs identified with microchips, so we’re guessing the animal shelter saw our name if they scanned Jitterbug. The family that adopted Jitterbug from the shelter reached out to us, and we have been talking and texting with them ever since. We provided the family with her vet records, food preferences, the commands she responds to, and they have sent us photos of her with their other Cane Corso.

“We are dog lovers and think it’s fantastic that there are so many groups out there that love dogs and animals too, but people need to do their homework before falsely accusing others. We love and have taken care of dogs for years, but because a few overzealous people mistakenly assumed we had abandoned a dog that was no longer ours, we have received threats and had our reputations smeared in the media. We are homebodies and quiet people and we don’t seek attention, but because a few people continue to smear our names without reason, we felt we had no choice but to set the record straight. Because of the threats our family has received, we had to hire a lawyer to contact the individuals who have been defaming us. We further filed a police report with the Tampa Police Department to make them aware of the individuals who have been threatening our family and moved to a different home because of the physical threats that were made against our family.”

You can read the full statement on Pro Football Talk here.