Graeter sentenced in 2025 Ace Hardware fire
Terry Graeter was sentenced March 4 in district court on an arson case.
Under a plea agreement, Graeter entered a guilty plea in January to felony arson for an August 2025 fire at Ace Hardware store at 215 N.W. Bypass.
The agreement included sentencing recommendations that the prosecution and court were not bound by since Graeter did not comply with orders to complete his pre-sentence investigation paperwork.
On March 4, Judge David Grubich sentenced him to 10 years in the Montana State Prison, with four years suspended. He was credited for 210 days of time served.
Grubich ordered that Graeter pay $24,010.49 in restitution to the insurance company and $2,500 to the Great Falls Ace for their deductible.
Graeter awaiting sentencing in 2025 arson case
Ann Marie McKittrick, the Cascade County deputy attorney prosecuting the case, said “this case has caused me a great deal of concern,” since Graeter was still not cooperating with the PSI process, coupled with his suspected mental health issues and his inability to abide by court orders.
She said since it’s an arson case, that closely followed another arson charge, she was concerned for public safety without a long supervision period and ensuring mental health treatment.
McKittrick said that since Graeter hadn’t completed the PSI, he’d effectively violated the plea agreement, so she could make a different sentencing recommendation and suggested a 20 year commitment to the Montana Department of Correction, with 15 suspended.
She said that Graeter had 27 misdemeanor convictions and 25 other misdemeanor charges that had been dismissed.
“I am terrified of what could happen if we don’t get him the mental healthcare,” McKittrick said.
Graeter enters guilty plea in Ace Hardware fire
Emily Weithman, Graeter’s defense attorney, said that she shares the prosecutions concern on “how scary it is that someone is lighting fires in our community,” but that Graeter had requested a 7-year DOC commitment with all time suspended since it was his first felony and he wouldn’t be able to pay restitution while incarcerated.
Graeter told Grubich that he’d made arrangements to pay restitution and had never been diagnosed with mental health issues.
He said he didn’t intentionally start the Ace Hardware fire, but had dropped a cigar and thought it would smolder out.
“I would never intentionally set a fire, especially near a business,” he said.
Graeter told the judge that he’s served in the military for 10 years and didn’t have mental health issues then.
He said he’d been in jail for seven months and was willing to do another five months, then he’d take care of the restitution and seek alcohol treatment.
McKittrick said it sounded like Graeter was backtracking further from what he pled guilty to, giving her more concern. She said state law limited the court to suspending five years on an arson charge.
Graeter charged with Ace Hardware arson; previous case resolved [2025]
Weithman said she believed that was correct and changed her recommendation to five years, all suspended.
In issuing Graeter’s sentence, Grubich said, “I don’t think this was accidental,” and people could have been injured. “That’s all on you. I don’t buy your last minute excuse that this was an accident and you dropped a cigar.”
Grubich said the Ace Hardware fire was a “dangerous escalation in your behavior,” and with criminal history including DUIs, criminal trespass, theft, public drinking and misdemeanor sexual assault, plus another 25 criminal charges that were dismissed, “your conduct is not conduct of a person who cares about remaining law abiding.”
Grubich said that he ordered Graeter to complete the PSI forms during his change of plea hearing and called a special hearing in February to address the issue of those forms being incomplete.
“You sat there in front of me and said I’ll have it done tomorrow. You lied, you didn’t do it,” Grubich said. “You just ignored this court’s order and that’s the risk you took.”
After Grubich issued the sentence, Graeter continued speaking, saying he always thought of himself as a good citizen.
“You need to work on your definition of good citizen,” Grubich said.
In the plea agreement, the county attorney’s office recommended a seven year commitment to the Montana Department of Corrections with four suspended, a mental health evaluation and that Graeter follow all treatment recommendations.
During a Jan. 15 hearing, Graeter admitted to starting the fire by the loading dock, saying he didn’t realize how much damage was done but was informed that it was close to $20,000.
Video footage shows Graeter alone behind the building just before the fire started, repeatedly bending over to the ground “before smoke begins billowing,” according to charging documents.
The store’s insurance agent told investigators that the damage was at least $20,000.
Prosecutors requested $100,000 bond as Graeter is “on an escalating climb of arsons in the community,” according to charging documents.
He’s been held in the Cascades County Adult Detention Center since August and is on a $50,000 bond.
Graeter was charged with felony arson in June for setting fire to the Sinclair’s on 12th Avenue, when employees saw him start that fire.
That charge was dropped down to negligent arson because the damage didn’t meet the threshold for the felony charge, according to Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki, and the case was later dismissed.
“Now [Graeter] intentionally set fire to an occupied commercial building. The fire caused extensive damage to the building. Employees and patrons were at risk if the fire were to have spread beyond the rear of the building. Employees risked injuries to themselves to try and contain the fire,” prosecutors wrote in their charging documents.
If Graeter is released, “his next fire may kill someone,” they wrote.
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He has a misdemeanor history with at least one failure to appear in Glacier County.
A person convicted of arson faces a prison term of up to 20 years and a fine of up to $50,000 or both.
During his initial appearance on Aug. 8 in district court, Mark Frisbie representing Graeter for the hearing requested that his bond be lowered to $10,000.
Judge John Kutzman said he takes the prosecution’s point about the escalating series of events and “this is not funny at all.”
But he said he didn’t think it rose to the level of a $100,000 bond and reduced it to $50,000.
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Among the conditions Kutzman imposed was a prohibition from being on the premises of both Ace Hardware stores, including their parking lots.
At the end of the hearing, Graeter said he thought his bond was $10,000 and the judge raised it to $50,000.
Kutzman explained the process and said that he determined it was a serious case but not at $100,000 so he set it at $50,000.
Graeter said that he served in the Air Force from 1982-1992 and was honorably discharged.
In June, Great Falls Police officers were dispatched to a dumpster fire at Noons Sinclar at 1300 12th Ave. S.
Callers reported that a male wearing a black jacket and gray beanie carrying a white bag had set the cardboard box bin on fire.
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Graeter was identified as the person in question and was located nearby with three lighters on his person.
In that case, prosecutors initially requested $8,500 bond with pretrial services, including GPS monitoring.
Graeter has several prior misdemeanor convictions, a failure to appear from 2022 and multiple misdemeanor cases pending in Municipal Court from late 2024 and early 2025.
