by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 19/97) - The man who admitted setting the million-dollar fire that destroyed Quality Furniture in August was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison and was ordered to repay $25,000.

But the owners of the store seemed nearly as angry with the sentence handed down by visiting Judge R.W. Bradley of the Alberta bar as with the fire and say it doesn't come close to covering their losses.

Gregory Paul Glaicar, 20, pleaded guilty to setting the Quality Furniture fire on Aug. 26. He also pleaded guilty to breaking into Bartle and Gibson that same night and again the next night to break open a safe, breaking into the After Eight pool hall on Aug. 23, and to three counts of forging his father's signature on cheques.

He was sentenced to three years for the fire, and given concurrent sentences of six months for the other offences. He could be released in as little as a year.

Court heard that the former Yellowknife resident had been kicked out of the family home in Alberta and drifted north. The break-ins occurred when he was drunk and looking for money. Because he was drunk, he offered no explanation for why he started three fires in the upstairs offices of Quality Furniture and another three on merchandise downstairs.

Co-owner Les Rocher, who testified that the fire left the business owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to suppliers and postponed his mother's planned retirement this year, said he wanted the young man to work off the loss rather than leaving the bills to them.

Glaciar's lawyer estimated that even if the young man paid off between $5,000 and $6,000 a month, that could take 40 years.

Judge Bradley, who listened to a second plea from Rocher to make the man repay the loss before pronouncing sentence yesterday afternoon, agreed that the $25,000 -- which Glaciar may not be able to pay anyway -- was a "pittance " compared with the loss, but said the court had no authority to compel the young man to work the damage off.

Damage to the building, which was insured, and the contents, which weren't, was estimated at just over $1 million by the fire marshal and nearly $1.5 million by the insurance company.

"I don't think it would do any good to send this young man to prison," Rocher told the court in a victim impact statement. "I had to work for many years and resting his bones in prison won't teach him anything."

Mary Rocher, Les's mother, who began the family business with her husband 40 years ago in Old Town, said she had been "devastated" by the fire. After working since 1956 so she could retire, she now has to continue working.

"We worked hard for what we've got," she said, her testimony broken by tears.

"It wasn't handed to us on a silver platter and it only took a fool a few seconds to finish it off."

Glaciar, dressed in a grey cotton sweater and chinos, sat in the prisoner's box with his head hung down for most of the 90-minute hearing, making no eye contact with anyone. He did not speak in his own defence.

Upon leaving the court for prison, a member of the Rocher family who was in the courtroom called out after him "Piece of shit!" and Glaciar could be heard striking the wall outside the courtroom.

Court heard that the Rochers received almost $300,000 in insurance, but that did little more than pay off the mortgage on the Franklin Avenue building they bought in December 1996.

They won't get the rest of the money unless they raze the gutted building and rebuild on its foundations, a job Rocher said would cost several hundred thousand dollars more than the insurance would cover.