Marisa Simonetti (left) in a revealing interview with Fox 9 (KMSP-TV/screengrab), (right inset) Simonetti in a Hennepin County Jail mug shot.
A local candidate for office in Minnesota running on a “family values” campaign was arrested and accused of assaulting her attorney housemate by playing a role in unleashing a tarantula following the short-term renter’s complaints of a “spider infestation” and internet issues.
Marisa Christina Simonetti, 30, faces a misdemeanor case in Hennepin County for allegedly causing Jackie Vasquez to fear bodily harm or death traceable to the tarantula incident that the Edina Police Department said unfolded last Friday.
Hennepin County Jail records reviewed by Law&Crime show that Simonetti was booked just before 5 p.m. on Friday and was let out of jail on Monday afternoon, when the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners candidate appeared in court and reportedly inspired the judge to comment on the “weird nature” of the case.
One of the odd factors highlighted so far is that Simonetti reportedly doesn’t own the home where Vasquez was renting a room on a short-term basis over the summer so she could study for the California Bar Exam, according to Fox affiliate KMSP and NBC affiliate KARE.
Other oddities included Simonetti publicly accusing Vasquez of being a “squatter” (which Vasquez rejected) and a 69-year-old man, identified as Michael Charles Held, reportedly facing an assault citation in connection with the tarantula incident.
I talked to Hennepin County Board candidate Marisa Simonetti after she was released from jail this morning on a 5th Degree assault charge. She says the alleged victim is a female squatter who won’t leave @M_Simonetti28’s basement at her Edina home. Story at 6:30 @kare11 Breaking… pic.twitter.com/LLOUUMAaOH
— Lou Raguse (@LouRaguse) June 24, 2024
Michael Charles Held, 69, of St. Louis Park was also charged with assault-5, cited and released by police. pic.twitter.com/7o7vcAb872
— Lou Raguse (@LouRaguse) June 24, 2024
Simonetti’s additional and wide-ranging comments on what allegedly took place only added another layer of strangeness.
Asked what led to the tarantula incident, Simonetti said that Vasquez “started sending double, triple texting me long paragraphs and making all kinds of accusations saying there was an infestation — a spider infestation — and then she said the internet didn’t work.”
“It was just a bombardment. She was sending me paragraphs-long messages and finally I had to block her because I felt so uncomfortable,” Simonetti said, explaining that her son lives in the home and that this fact makes her highly sensitive to disputes like these.
Claiming that Vasquez was screaming on the phone with someone, threatening to have her arrested, and threatening to ruin her campaign, Simonetti suggested that she tried a tactic from “Home Alone,” her favorite movie from her childhood, to get Vasquez out of the house.
“I mean, there is an element of humor to that movie, and at the end, what was I supposed to do?” she asked KMSP. “And at the end of the day, unhinged got her out of the house.”
Simonetti did not answer whether she was allowed to sublet a room to Vasquez, calling those rules “all pretty hazy,” but she chalked up the whole blow-up as “funny” and “ridiculous.”
“I’m good at creatively solving problems, and at the end of the day, I didn’t physically harm anybody. I’m a little unconventional in my ways—sometimes. I mean, I’m a silly goose,” she told KMSP.
On Simonetti’s campaign website, a banner blares that she is “REBUILDING SAFETY THROUGH FAMILY VALUES,” while a blurb identifies her as “the only conservative candidate in this race.”
“I entered this race in response to seeing threats of violence directed at our schools and seeing our futures in jeopardy due to wasteful spending,” the site says.
Watch Simonetti’s full interview on the local news here:
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