US Senate candidate Marisa Simonetti convicted of assault after hurling tarantula into Airbnb to evict 'squatter'

A candidate for the US Senate has been convicted of throwing a tarantula down the stairs of her basement in a Home Alone-inspired bid to scare an alleged squatter. Marisa Simonetti, 32, who is running as an independent in the upcoming Senate election in Minnesota, was convicted on Friday of misdemeanor counts of domestic assault, harassment and disorderly conduct. The charges stemmed from the tarantula incident, which occurred in 2024. At the time, Simonetti told NBC News that she got the idea from the 1990 movie Home Alone, starring then-child actor Macaulay Culkin. In the film, Culkin's character, Kevin McCallister,...