On July 1, 2024, celebrity chef Justin Sutherland — a Food Network personality and recent guest judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef” — was formally charged with felony threats of violence against his girlfriend, according to the Star Tribune.
Sutherland, 39, was arrested on the evening of June 28 in St. Paul, Minnesota, after police were alerted to an incident involving a man with a gun, the Pioneer Press reported.
In a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court and obtained by Heavy, prosecutors said the alleged victim was “shaking and crying” when police arrived, and that she told them that Sutherland put his hands around her neck, “hit her in the chest with the gun,” and threatened to shoot her multiple times.
Sutherland’s attorney, John Daly, has denied the allegations against his client, insisting to the Star Tribune that the report from prosecutors was “riddled with falsehoods.”
“He never physically assaulted anybody, never pointed a gun at anybody and never choked anybody,” Daly told the paper. “Mr. Sutherland is a nonviolent, warm and energetic member of the community.”
Criminal Complaint About Justin Sutherland Says There Were 3 Calls to 911 on Night of Incident
The criminal complaint reviewed by Heavy said two people called 911 about the incident on June 28 involving Sutherland, including passerby who noticed “a person with a gun” enter the back door of a vacant building and a female who was “in distress,” holding her hands up in the air.
The second caller, according to the police report, was the sister of the alleged victim, who told the dispatcher she was FaceTiming with her sister when she overheard a male in the background tell her, “I wish you were dead right now.” The woman said that the male, who she identified as Sutherland, took her sister’s phone away, threw it on the ground, and that she had not been able to reach her sister since.
Meanwhile, the criminal complaint also stated that a “best friend” of Sutherland’s told police that on the night of June 28, he’d tried to break up a fight between the couple at a St. Paul building where they had moved into an apartment the week before.
The friend told police, per court documents, that Sutherland, who won Food Network’s “Iron Chef America” in 2018 and co-stars on “Fast Foodies,” planned to open a new restaurant in the building. When the friend broke up the heated argument between the couple, stepping between them, he noticed a closed gun case on Sutherland’s bed, he told police. He did not see Sutherland holding the gun that night, he told authorities, but the alleged victim told police that he was the one who got the gun out of Sutherland’s hands.
When police executed a search warrant of the home, the criminal complaint said, police found a plastic gun case on the bed containing two firearms. Eight additional guns were found in the home and police also found a broken phone belonging to the alleged victim.
About an hour and a half before the incident involving the gun, per the criminal complaint, Sutherland’s girlfriend had called 911 herself, reporting that he had choked her and was trying to kick her out of their apartment. The dispatcher who spoke to her said the caller was crying but refused to give her boyfriend’s name “because she did not want to get anyone in trouble.”
When police arrived, the alleged victim said she and Sutherland had “a disagreement about
something stupid,” that they were “in each other’s faces” and that he “pushed her in the upper chest.” However, she insisted she was fine and did not need police assistance, the report said. No one was arrested at that time.
Justin Sutherland’s Attorney Calls Claims Made by Alleged Victim ‘Absolutely False’
GettyCelebrity chefs Justin Sutherland and Tom Colicchio taste food during Capitol Food Fight 2023 on November 9, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Sutherland and Daly, his attorney, have maintained the chef’s innocence since his arrest. While at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center, according to the criminal report, Sutherland asked an investigator what he was being charged with. When the investigator told him the charge was for Threats of Violence and Assault, Sutherland “said that was a lie and requested a lawyer,” the report said.
On July 1, Daly told People, “Mr. Sutherland vehemently denies all the allegations in the complaint. He never threatened to shoot anyone. He did not physically assault his girlfriend. He looks forward to the truth coming out as the court process unfolds.”
Daly also told local news station KARE11, “Many statements in the complaint by the alleged victim are absolutely false. Justin never strangled anyone. He never pointed a gun. This was just an argument between two people whose relationship was coming to an end and he’s looking forward to the truth being disclosed in the court process.”
After appearing in court on July 1, Sutherland was released without bail, according to MPR. But according to a firearms order reviewed by Heavy, Sutherland was required to turn over all of his guns and other dangerous weapons within 24 hours of his release and is not allowed to live with anyone who possesses firearms.
If found guilty of the charge against him, Sutherland faces up to five years in jail and/or up to $10,000 in fines, according to the criminal complaint. He is due back in court on August 16.
In December 2023, Sutherland’s TruTV series “Taste the Culture” earned him the Daytime Emmy Award for Culinary Host. Sutherland last appeared on national TV in May, when he returned to Bravo’s “Top Chef” as a guest judge.
In January, he stepped away from his first restaurant, Handsome Hog in St. Paul, according to Mpls.St.Paul magazine, and partnered with his dad to launch their own restaurant group. They own egg sandwich shops called Big E’s in Portland, Oregon, and in St. Paul, with recently-announced plans for additional restaurant concepts in the Twin Cities.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential.
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