() — New York City authorities are investigating a rape allegation against actor Devin Ratray, best known for his role as the older brother in the “Home Alone” film series (also known as “Mi Pobre Angelito” in Latin America). and ‘Solo en Casa’ in Spain), according to .
Ratray, who denied the allegation in a phone call with , is currently facing domestic violence charges stemming from an unrelated incident in Oklahoma last December involving his then-girlfriend. He has pleaded not guilty in that case and has an upcoming hearing scheduled for October.
Actor Devin Ratray in 2017.
It was news of Ratray’s arrest in Oklahoma that prompted Lisa Smith to contact prosecutors about a police report she had filed in 2017 accusing the actor of raping her in New York City. She wanted to know why her case had not been pursued. Prosecutors, she said, incorrectly believed that she wanted to remain anonymous and did not want to press charges. As a result, the case was closed, she said she was told.
Smith, who also contacted , said she was “devastated” that authorities did not fully investigate her allegation when it was initially brought forward. She provided emails suggesting the case was closed even though she had taken steps to cooperate with the investigation, traveled from out of state to be interviewed by investigators at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and then provided an item of clothing worn by the night of the alleged incident for possible DNA testing.
The NYPD declined to answer questions from about its handling of the case. A spokesman for the district attorney’s office confirmed that they “are in contact” with Smith, but declined to discuss the handling of the case. Emails reviewed by show that a prosecutor recently contacted Smith for information, seeking phone and text records and contacting potential witnesses.
Ratray has not been charged in connection with Smith’s allegations.
Reached by in a phone call last week, Ratray, 45, said he remembered the night with Smith nearly five years ago, but denied his rape allegation. “We didn’t have sex,” he said.
An attorney for Ratray did not respond to an emailed request for comment from .
Ratray, who played Macaulay Culkin’s bully older brother in both the 1990 film “Home Alone” and its 1992 sequel, has had a long acting career. He has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, including an episode of “Better Call Saul” last month.
What Smith Says Happened
Smith told that she had been friends with the actor for about 15 years before the alleged assault on Sept. 21, 2017. That night, she said, she met her brother, another friend and Ratray at a bar in New York. Later, the group went to Ratray’s apartment in Manhattan for another drink.
Ratray served drinks for his friends, Smith said, but seemed determined to give him a specific glass. Shortly after drinking the drink, Smith said that she grew tired of it and Ratray encouraged her to stay and sleep on her couch.
She said she thinks she was drugged.
“I remember waking up and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t really open my eyes, but I could hear what was going on and I could feel what was going on. I knew the other two people were gone and I was still on the couch,” Smith said.
Ratray sexually assaulted her for what seemed like “an eternity,” she alleged.
Devin Ratray in a 1990 publicity image for the movie “Home Alone.”
He finally left her alone on the sofa. It was around 2 pm the next day, she said, when Smith was able to move enough to put on his clothes and leave the apartment, she said.
Smith said she was initially reluctant to report the alleged rape because she had been assaulted once before by another man and felt she was treated poorly by police when she filed a report and underwent a rape exam. An NYPD source confirmed to that Ella Smith had filed an earlier report.
The day after Ratray allegedly assaulted her, Smith told a friend, her sister and one of her brothers what had happened. All three people confirmed to that Smith confided in them about the incident at the time. Her brother told that he feels guilty about leaving her sister asleep on Ratray’s couch. Smith’s sister and two of her friends also confirmed that a district attorney recently contacted them about the case.
A day after the alleged assault, Smith contacted Ratray via text message to confront him. Ratray denied the assault via text message, he said. Smith no longer has the texts, but a transcript of the alleged messages was found in a separate text exchange between Smith and his sister, a copy of which was reviewed by .
Ratray tried to present the incident as a consensual encounter, per Smith’s characterization of his response, but said he couldn’t have sex because he was “impotent.”
the police get involved
A few weeks after the alleged assault, Smith, who had moved to Utah, said a friend encouraged her to file a police report, which she did.
An NYPD detective flew to Salt Lake City to interview her in November 2017. In the detective’s report, which she filed on January 4, she checked a box indicating that Smith did not want to prosecute. However, after that report was filed, Ella Smith said she flew to New York to meet with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for an interview.
Smith said she never heard from the prosecutor after she flew to meet with them less than two months after being interviewed by the NYPD. She told this left her “sad” and “confused” at the lack of further communication.
In the fall of 2018, nearly a year after Smith first reported his assault to the NYPD, he said the clothes he was wearing the night of the alleged assault, specifically the sweater, were found in a storage container. that he was wearing and that she believed might have had DNA evidence on it. She told the NYPD detective about her discovery and mailed it to him. She didn’t hear from the detective after she sent him the clothes.
When contacted by , the detective who initially met with Smith declined to comment.
Smith pointed to her efforts to assist in the investigation as evidence of her desire to prosecute her assailant.
“Why would I have met with the prosecutor in the first place, years ago, if I wasn’t willing to press charges? … This whole thing was very upsetting to me,” she said.
After Ratray’s arrest for domestic violence last year, Smith said a friend emailed her news about the case. She said reading her name in her headlines was what prompted her to contact authorities and .
“Seeing that he was accused of assaulting another person, I realized that I had to do everything I could to prevent him from hurting more women,” she said.
In May, Smith said she met with a prosecutor from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office’s Sex Crimes Unit, who she said apologized for the way her case had been handled.
The prosecutor told Smith that “they should have at least offered victim counseling all those years ago,” she said. “When she said that, I started to cry because I realized that it was the first time that anyone had acknowledged how deeply shocked she had been, or that she had been traumatized.”
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