Marisa Christina Simonetti, 30, a candidate for the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners in Minnesota, has been charged with fifth degree assault by a temporary housemate. The housemate, attorney Jackie Vasquez, claims Simonetti threw a living tarantula at her. Simonetti, who has a lease on the home, insists that Vasquez had rented the room via a short-term rental service but was noisy and a bad tenant. As a result, Simonetti said she cancelled the reservation but Vasquez wouldn't leave. According to Vasquez, Simonetti had entered her portion of the home without permission.
It's a complicated story, and Simonetti has had a checkered past involving accusations of credit card fraud. Meanwhile, she and her ex-boyfriend have mutual restraining orders against each other. The man claims that Simonetti made a fake Grindr account with his photo, resulting in men coming to his home expecting sex.
Regarding the tarantula though, Simonetti said she did purchase the animal at a pet store to scare Vasuez but didn't chuck it at her. Rather, she "gently tipped it down the stairs."
"I'm not a physically violent person, and I watched the movie 'Home Alone' growing up, and I was, like, you know what, this is such a strange situation," Simonetti was quoted as saying by NBC News. "If I'm scared or hurt, I try and make jokes. And I was so scared, I was just like, I didn't know what to do, and so, yeah, I got the spider."
She said she doesn't know where the spider ended up.
"I hope he found a good snack and a nice warm bed," she said.
