Two co-owners of a Colorado funeral home where around 190 decomposing bodies were found last year pleaded guilty Thursday to federal fraud charges, officials said.
Jon Hallford, 44, and his wife Carie Hallford, 47, co-owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado said.
Clients had been promised that the remains of their loved ones would be buried or cremated, the prosecutor’s office said.
The scheme was uncovered in October 2023 after people reported a foul smell from a Return to Nature funeral home location in Penrose, a community of around 3,600 around 25 miles northwest of Pueblo, officials said.
An indictment filed against the couple in April alleged that after failing to cremate or buried the remains, they “concealed the gruesome collection of bodies” at the Penrose facility by covering the doors and windows and keeping people from entering.
In at least two cases, they gave the wrong person’s body for burial, and those remains were buried by unsuspecting next-of-kin, the indictment says.
The Hallfords also admitted to Covid relief fraud of around $800,000, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
They face a maximum sentence of up 20 years in prison, the prosecutor’s office said.
The Hallfords operated the funeral home from August 2017 until Oct. 5, 2023, when the government shut it down. It operated in the Penrose and Colorado Springs area.
The funeral home where the remains were found was later demolished, NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver reported at the time.
Attorneys listed as representing Jon Hallford and Carie Hallford did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday evening.
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