A Sawyer County man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for arson which damaged sites of religious significance on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation. Sawyer County Judge John Yackel on Monday also sentenced 45-year-old Christopher Grover to 21 years extended supervision, followed by 20 years probation, meaning Grover will have some form of supervision the rest of his life.
Grover was found guilty of 15 charges following a three-and-half day jury trial in September. According to the Sawyer County Record, Yackel compared the fires that Grover set in 2012 at six sites of significance to members of the Ojibwe tribe’s Midewiwin tradition to the destruction of a church or synagogue.