A former Washington man has been sentenced to 13 months in federal prison and will be required to pay back over $1 million in restitution. Thursday, 66-year-old Thomas Gretter was sentenced in U.S. District Court for two counts of making a false statement to a financial institution. He pleaded guilty to the charges and according to the plea agreement, on or about December 18, 2013, and October 6, 2014, he obtained loans from Hills Bank. As security for each of the loans, he pledged multiple items of collateral that he knew included false statements, and were unavailable to Hills Bank as security. Additionally, he forged the signatures of multiple people on items of pledged collateral and provided those documents to Hills Bank in order to influence them in making the loans. Following the prison term, Gretter will have to pay $1,185,704.77 in restitution to Hills Bank & Trust Company, as well as $200 to the Crime Victims’ Fund. The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

In January of 2015 Gretter Autoland, Inc., of Washington went to bankruptcy court with a scheduled motion to dismiss chapter 11 bankruptcy for Gretter Autoland, Inc., Gretter Ford Mercury, Inc., and Gretter Chevrolet Company. In August of 2015, the courts denied the debtor’s motions to assume and assign executory contracts, while sustaining objections filed by Ford and GM, in material breach of franchise agreements.