‘Home Alone’ Actor Devin Ratray Under Investigation for Rape
The New York Police Department is reportedly investigating actor Devin Ratray — who played the older brother Buzz in the Home Alone films — for a rape that allegedly occurred in 2017.
According to CNN, Lisa Smith publicly came forward with the accusation against Ratray after the actor was charged with domestic violence in Dec. 2021 following an incident in Oklahoma involving his then-girlfriend.
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“Seeing that he was accused of assaulting someone else made me realize that I needed to do whatever I could to prevent him from hurting even more women,” Smith said.
Smith alleges that, following 15 years of friendship with the actor, Ratray raped her in New York City in Sept. 2017. On that night, Smith believes she was drugged, as she grew tired after consuming a drink given to her by Ratray.
“I remember waking up and I couldn’t move. I couldn’t really open my eyes, but I could hear what was happening and I could feel what was happening,” Smith told CNN. “I knew that the other two people were gone and I was still on the couch.”
After initially being reluctant to report the alleged rape and submit a rape kit examination due to how authorities handled a previous sexual assault she was a victim of, Smith — then living in Utah — eventually reached out to the NYPD a few weeks later.
An NYPD detective flew out to Utah to interview Smith about the incident in Nov. 2017; however, Smith says the detective’s report incorrectly claimed that she did not want to file charges. Despite the detective’s belief that she did not want to prosecute, after the detective’s report, Smith still flew to New York for an interview with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
After a year of not hearing from the authorities, Smith rediscovered the clothes she was wearing the night of the alleged assault and sent them to the NYPD detective in case there was DNA evidence on the outfit; she did not hear from the NYPD detective again after that.
“Why would I have met with the D.A. in the first place, years ago, if I wasn’t willing to press charges?” Smith told CNN. “This was all very upsetting to me.”
The NYPD said in a statement to Rolling Stone, “The NYPD takes sexual assault and rape cases extremely seriously, and urges anyone who has been a victim to file a police report so we can perform a comprehensive investigation, and offer support and services to survivors.” The NYPD did not comment on the Ratray investigation and Smith’s claims specifically.
A rep for Ratray tells Rolling Stone that the actor “is no longer a client of the agency.” Speaking to CNN, Ratray — who recently appeared on episodes of Better Call Saul — said he remembered the night in question but denied the allegation of sexual assault, “We did not have sex.”
Smith added that in May, she met with a prosecutor from the Sex Crimes Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office who apologized over how her accusation was handled.
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