Arnaldo Lerma

Nazi sympathizer who shot his wife was Berry’s “good friend”

The late Arnaldo “Arnie” Lerma was an extremist militiaman, and one of the leaders of an anti-Scientology cyber-harassment group represented by Graham Berry starting in the mid-1990s.

In a message to a collaborator in 1995, Lerma wrote, “We have the full support of Willis Carto, and the ‘patriot’ movement in the United States.” At the same time, Lerma warned, “I suggest that we don’t promote my relationship with Willis Carto.”

For good reason. Carto has been cited by groups from the Southern Poverty Law Center to the Jewish Anti-Defamation League for his virulent anti-Semitism and anti-Black racism. According to Yaron Svoray of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Carto was “the most notorious Nazi in the world.”

Lerma served on the board of policy of one of Carto’s organizations.

In his hate writings, Lerma encouraged his extremist cohorts in anti-Scientology attacks, stating “…we must continue our work until done and then sow the ground with salt.”

In March 2018, Lerma infamously shot his wife, Ginger Sugerman, in the face, disfiguring her for life, then fatally turned the gun on himself.

Berry eulogized Lerma as “my good friend for 25 years.”