Sami Drasin/Bravo
RHOC’s Katie Ginella Accused of Calling Police to Report Fake Crime, Causing Wrongful Arrest
Real Housewives of Orange County star Katie Ginella was accused of calling police with fake allegations that led to a man being arrested for false imprisonment, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, a man named Sidnei Silva filed a lawsuit against Katie, 40, in March 2016.
In his lawsuit, Sidnei said he had an incident with Katie on the roadway on April 12, 2015.
He claimed she followed him all the way to his house and “parked her vehicle behind” his work van outside his residence.
“[Katie] exited her vehicle and confronted [Sidnei] aggressively,” the suit said.
The man said he pulled out his cell phone to tape Katie “in an effort to protect himself,” which led to her calling 911 to “falsely” report a crime.
He said Katie told the operator that he was preventing her from leaving the scene. Sidnei said he was in no way preventing or stopping Katie from getting inside her car and leaving the scene.
“When police arrived minutes later … [Katie] again communicated to them that [Sidnei] had blocked her path and prevented her from getting inside her vehicle and leaving.”
“As a result of [Katie’s] allegations, the police initially arrested [Sidnei] for false imprisonment, disorderly conduct, and reckless driving,” the lawsuit said. “Upon further investigation, the police determined that [Katie] was the primary aggressor and that her allegations against [Sidnei] were false.”
Sidnei said, “as a result of the investigation initiated by [Katie’s] call and her subsequent false allegations, was thrown to the ground, injured and arrested.”
He said that he was forced to hire lawyers to fight the charges that ended up being dismissed.
He said he spent $12,625 on legal fees to defend himself. He said Katie should be held liable for the fees. Sidnei also accused Katie of slander.
He demanded over $100,000 in damages.
According to the court docket, Katie never responded to the case and a default judgment of $112,945.00 was entered 2018.
Sidnei filed a separate lawsuit against the police officer involved in his arrest. In that lawsuit, it revealed the details that allegedly led to Katie following Sidnei home.
It noted that Sidnei was driving home when he noticed Katie texting while driving with several children in her car.
He said a driver, who was texting, killed his brother eight years ago. He claimed he shook his head in disapproval as he passed Katie, which led to her following him.
The suit said, “[Katie] parked behind Silva, got out of her car, leaving the children inside, and screamed at him. Confused by the woman’s behavior — after all, she was the one who had endangered the public and the children in her car by texting while driving — Silva began recording the event with his cell phone.”
In 2018, Sidnei and the officer agreed to dismiss the case.
As In Touch first reported, Katie was involved in bitter divorce with her ex-husband Andrew Sundseth in 2016.
Per their original settlement, Andrew was awarded primary custody of the kids. The exes went back to court in 2018 and worked out a new deal where Katie was awarded custody of their daughter and Andrew kept their two boys. In the case, Katie was accused of forging her ex-husband’s name on student loan documents. She denied the claims.
Recently, Katie was sued for $5 million over an alleged “stolen” business idea.
She denied all claims of wrongdoing.
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