EDINA, Minn. — A candidate for the Hennepin County Board is free on her own recognizance after being jailed on assault charges.
Marisa Christina Simonetti, 30, was arrested on Friday, June 21 on a charge of 5th-degree assault after a woman called Edina police to report Simonetti trespassing into her section of the house.
The alleged victim, Twin Cities attorney Jackie Vasquez, tells KARE 11 News Simonetti threw a live tarantula at her, among various other junk, in what she describes as a scary encounter.
Simonetti spent the weekend in custody and was released Monday after a court appearance. The charge involves "fear of bodily harm" and does not require battery.
KARE 11's Lou Raguse spoke with Simonetti following her court appearance. She says the charges aren't true, telling Raguse that her accuser Vasquez is a squatter -- who rented a room from her through a short-term rental website and then refused to leave when the contract was up.
Property records indicate Simonetti is not the owner of the home, raising questions about whether she was authorized to rent out a portion of it. In addition, short-term rentals are not allowed in Edina.
Simonetti said that Vasquez did completely move out of the property over the weekend. She added that she will continue in her quest for a seat on the Hennepin County Board.
"Fifth-degree assault means someone only needs to feel fear or feel afraid of bodily harm. I never hit anybody. I never touched anybody. And the reason I was held longer is because she was in my house. So it had to potentially be considered a domestic," Simonetti said in an interview with KARE 11 News.
When asked whether Simonetti did something to make Vasquez fear bodily harm, Simonetti responded, "I was taking the door off. The landlord, I'm renting here, told me to take the door off. So I was taking the door handle off."
Simonetti, who was the runner-up in this summer's special election in the nonpartisan Hennepin County Board race running as a conservative, has faced a number of allegations in criminal and civil court.
She was charged with credit card fraud for more than $80,000 of charges on her ex-fiancé's credit card. That was dropped when the ex-fiancé, an embattled former Woodbury dentist, settled with Simonetti in civil court.
Simonetti and another ex-boyfriend, the father of Simonetti's child, have current harassment restraining orders against each other.
Court papers show allegations of assault and stalking. And he accuses Simonetti of creating a phony Grindr account using his name and photo and messaging several men who then showed up at his house expecting to hook up. Simonetti would not comment on the situation involving this man.
When reached by phone regarding Simonetti's characterization of "squatting," Vasquez told Raguse that Simonetti doesn't understand the legal definition of squatting, and that short-term rentals aren't allowed in Edina, meaning the contract is invalid.
Vasquez would not confirm or deny if she continued paying for the room after the end date of the agreement.
During Simonetti's court appearance, Judge Jamie Anderson commented on "the weird nature of what is happening here... but (the charges) are serious."
Judge Anderson freed Simonetti without bond but ordered that she and the accuser can't be in the same room of the home, a moot point since Vasquez has already moved out.
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