Ratray, who denied the allegation in a phone call with CNN, 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.
It was news of Ratray’s arrest in Oklahoma that prompted Lisa Smith to contact prosecutors about a police report she filed in 2017 accusing the actor of raping her at New York. She wanted to know why her case had not been pursued. Prosecutors, she said, mistakenly believed she wanted to remain anonymous and did not want to press charges. As a result, the case was dismissed, she said.
Smith, who also contacted CNN, said she was “devastated” that authorities did not fully investigate her allegations when she initially came forward. She provided emails suggesting the case was closed even though she had taken steps to cooperate with the investigation, traveling from out of state to be interviewed by investigators from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and later providing an item of clothing she was wearing the night of the alleged assault for possible DNA testing.
New York police declined to answer questions from CNN about the handling of the case. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office confirmed they were “in touch” with Smith but declined to discuss the handling of the case. Emails reviewed by CNN show that a prosecutor recently contacted Smith for information, searched phone and text records, and contacted potential witnesses.
Ratray has not been charged in connection with Smith’s allegations.
When reached by CNN in a phone call last week, Ratray, 45, said he remembered the evening with Smith nearly five years ago, but denied his rape allegation. . “We didn’t have sex,” he said.
A lawyer for Ratray did not respond to a CNN email request for comment.
Ratray, who played the bully of an older brother to Macaulay Culkin in the 1990 film “Home Alone” and its 1992 sequel, has had a long acting career. He’s appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, including an episode of “Better Call Saul” last month.
What Smith Says Happened
Smith told CNN she had been friends with the actor for about 15 years before the alleged September 21, 2017, assault. That night, she said, she met her brother, another friend and Ratray in a bar in New York. The group then went to Ratray’s Manhattan apartment for another drink.
Ratray served drinks for his friends, Smith said, but he seemed determined to give her a specific drink. Shortly after downing the drink, Smith said she was exhausted, and Ratray encouraged her to stay and sleep on her couch.
She said she believed 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 felt like “an eternity”, she alleged.
Finally, he left her alone on the couch. It was around 2 p.m. the next day, she said, when Smith was able to move enough to put on his clothes and walk out of the apartment, she said.
Smith said she was initially reluctant to report the alleged rape because she had already been assaulted by another man and felt like she had been treated poorly by the police when she filed a complaint. and submitted to a rape kit examination. An NYPD source confirmed to CNN that Smith made a previous report.
The day after Ratray allegedly assaulted her, Smith told a friend, her sister and one of her brothers what had happened. All three confirmed to CNN that Smith confided in them about the incident at the time. Her brother told CNN he was guilty of leaving his sister sleeping 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, she said. Smith no longer has the texts, but a transcript of the alleged messages was in a separate text exchange between Smith and his sister, a copy of which has been reviewed by CNN.
Ratray sought to frame the incident as a consensual encounter, per Smith’s characterization of his response, but said he was unable to have sex because he was “powerless”.
The police get involved
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 traveled to Salt Lake City for questioning in November 2017. In the detective’s report, which he filed Jan. 4, he checked off a box that Smith did not want to prosecute. Yet after that report was filed, Smith said she flew to New York to meet with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to be interviewed.
Smith said she never heard from the DA after flying to meet with them less than two months after being interviewed by the NYPD. She told CNN it left her “sad” and “confused” about the lack of further communication.
In fall 2018, nearly a year after Smith first reported her assault to the NYPD, she said she came across a storage bin with the outfit she wore on the night of the alleged assault, specifically the sweater she was wearing which she believed had DNA evidence on it. She informed the NYPD detective of her discovery and mailed it. She did not hear from the detective after sending him the clothes.
When contacted by CNN, the detective who originally met with Smith declined to comment.
Smith pointed to her efforts to help with the investigation as evidence of her desire to prosecute her attacker.
“Why would I have met the prosecutor in the first place, years ago, if I wasn’t willing to press charges? … This all upset me,” she said.
After Ratray was arrested for domestic violence last year, Smith said a friend sent him updates on the case. She said reading her name in the headlines was what motivated her to contact authorities and CNN.
“Seeing he was accused of assaulting someone else made me realize that I had to do everything I could to stop him from hurting even more women,” she said.
In May, Smith said she met with a prosecutor from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Sex Crimes Unit, who she said apologized for the way her case was handled.
The prosecutor told Smith she “should have at least been offered victim counseling all those years ago,” she said. “When she said that, I started crying when I realized it was the first time anyone had acknowledged how deeply touched or traumatized I had been.”