Who is the Real Jim Sutter? You Tell Us!
"Let me tell you something that I don't like talking about," wrote James Michael Sutter in 2004, as he then proceeded to run down a list of imaginary medals "awarded" for fictitious combat injuries - something that he very much enjoyed talking about, until caught red-handed by his own record.
Behind the fantasies of a battle-hardened combat veteran, international "James Bond" counter-terrorism operative and martyr to the forces of "hate" (against which he "tirelessly crusades") is an unemployed, grossly overweight Cleveland, Ohio man sitting in his underwear at a computer in a low-budget apartment feeling deeply unhappy about himself. The true Jim Sutter is actually a man-child - a grown adult with the emotional maturity of a child. He even plays dress-up with GI Joe dolls, trying to pass off pictures of them as himself in "battle gear."
The computer gave Sutter an opportunity to invent a fictional identity. For a man who has been an impotent failure his entire adult life, this must have seemed almost too good to be true. Unfortunately for him, Sutter got greedy and he got stupid. The over-the-top lies that he shamelessly tells about himself and others have made him the laughingstock of the Internet. They do little more now than to lend insight into his self-perceived inadequacies.
Sutter claims to be a Navy Seal because it represents the strength that he wishes he had. His lies about combat medals for valor are symbolic of the inner character that he lacks. The many phony degrees and doctorates that he has honored himself with, from physics to a PhD in psychology, speak to a deep sense of regret that has absolutely no educational achievement to match his ego. The many religious titles that he has claimed are an attempt to project the integrity that he simply doesn't have in real life.
In each case, Sutter's lies are designed to hide a contrary reality. Even his current scheme to reinvent himself as an "anti-hate" advocate is intended to disguise a personal history of bigotry and racism. The man who recklessly slings the most horrible accusations onto others actually has a shameful record of targeting people of color.
Sutter masquerades as a "Christian minister," but he is simply a con artist with a dark past. A failed marriage, for example, produced children whom he now disowns - an episode that appears to be related to the allegation of child molestation that he once discussed on his blog. Again, he always turns out to be exactly the opposite of what he wants others to think.
Since he began receiving government subsistence many years ago, after tenuously claiming disability, Jim Sutter has gotten up each morning and looked at the phenomenal underachiever staring back at him in the bathroom mirror. (In 35 years, he has not even been able to grow a decent mustache). He has no accomplishments in life to speak of. Neither does he have any discernable job skills or will to work and, at 52, Sutter survives on government checks and what his wife, Nancy, manages to bring home.
A great man builds things. Jim Sutter tries to destroy what others have built. Since losing his job at the BBB, after making false accusations against members of the public barely a year into his career there, Sutter has pretended to be a member of the clergy while, at the same time, scheming to defraud and sue people for what doesn't belong to him. He has claimed to be a professional counselor and actively sought to exploit real victims of trauma. At least twice in his life, he has made up stories about fending off knife-wielding attackers. His latest hoax is to manipulate others into thinking that he is a grand crusader against "hate," when, in fact, he is hatefully defaming others for no purpose other than to raise his own profile.
Sutter is an insincere man who does not believe the things that he says, but he is good at fooling others. As we have documented on this site, he has attempted to exploit people with disabilities, rape victims, and those suffering from trauma. He has even used the 9/11 tragedy for personal gain by lying about having lost close friends that day.
Sutter is a prolific liar and con-man, impressing the gullible with invented tales about himself that fit the fantasy of the man he wishes he had been. If ever there were an epitome of the word "loser," it would be this pathetic person, whom no one would have ever heard of, were it not for the damage that he has caused so many, with the assistance of Secure Computing, SurfControl, SonicWall and CAIR.
Although he comes off as conniving and lucid in his many loud (but shallow) opinion pieces, there may also be reason to suspect that Sutter suffers from a deeper form of mental illness than the Narcissistic Personality Disorder on which we have speculated here. By his own admission, he is on medication, and others have described situations in which he seemed to be delusional. A former pastor said that Sutter once believed he (the pastor) had transformed himself into a lizard in front of his congregation.
Indeed, there is something soulless and dark about Jim Sutter that goes beyond the remarkable ease with which he lies to others under the cloak of Purple Hearts and Christianity. In our dealings with him, we did not sense the slightest spark of compunction. Although offered the opportunity many times to show that he has a conscience, we found that Sutter operates purely on instinct. He has no remorse for what he's done to others, and, when caught in an obvious lie, he will merely ignore it and make up a new story. He is a scary man who has literally made a career out of lying, cheating and stealing.
But, or course, the best stories from Jim Sutter's life are yet to be told, which is part of the reason for this site. So far, we have only exposed him for who he is not. There are plenty of people who have known this man personally, both in his brief Navy career and in the Cleveland, Ohio area, who can help us better understand him for who he is.
Who is the real Jim Sutter? You tell us:
Help us fill in the missing gaps!