A pair who owned a Colorado funeral home the place authorities final yr discovered 190 decaying bodies had been indicted on federal prices that they misspent practically $900,000 in pandemic aid funds on holidays, beauty surgical procedure, jewellery and different private bills, in line with courtroom paperwork unsealed Monday.
The indictment reaffirms accusations from state prosecutors that Jon and Carie Hallford gave families dry concrete as a substitute of cremated ashes and alleges the couple buried the fallacious physique on two events.
The couple additionally collected greater than $130,000 from households for cremations and burial services they by no means offered, the indictment mentioned.
The 15 prices introduced by the federal grand jury are along with greater than 200 legal counts already pending in opposition to the Hallfords in Colorado state courtroom for corpse abuse, cash laundering, theft and forgery.
The federal offenses carry potential penalties of 20 years in jail and $250,000 in fines, the indictment mentioned.
On Monday, the house owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Residence in Colorado Springs entered a federal courtroom certain in shackles as they made an preliminary look earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose Scott Varholak.
Assistant U.S. Lawyer Tim Neff argued the couple had been a flight danger, after they allegedly fled to Oklahoma final October when the decaying our bodies had been first found and earlier than their arrest on state prices on Nov. 8.
“They simply evaporated from the community,” Neff mentioned.
The decide didn’t instantly determine if the couple must be launched pending trial. He set an arraignment listening to for Thursday.
Carie Hallford’s legal professional, Chaz Melihercik, mentioned he would argue in opposition to detention on the subsequent listening to. Jon Hallford’s public defender, Kilie Latendresse, advised the decide that he had been following his bond circumstances within the state case and that detention was pointless.
The brand new prices and accusations triggered extra anguish for households who despatched their family members to the funeral residence.
Each new revelation concerning the case is a jolt to Tanya Wilson, who employed Return to Nature to cremate her mom’s stays. Wilson unfold the ashes with household in Hawaii. After the grim discovery, Wilson was advised these ashes weren’t truly her mom, whose physique has since been recognized among the many 190 decaying our bodies.
A whole bunch of relations, like Wilson, had thought they put their cherished one’s to relaxation, or clutched their ashes shut, solely to have that therapeutic torn away.
“I honestly feel like I have whiplash, and I can’t hold onto one emotion long enough to be able to process it,” Wilson mentioned over the cellphone.
Earlier than the brand new indictment was unsealed, public information confirmed the Hallfords had been affected by debt — dealing with evictions and lawsuits for unpaid cremations whilst they spent lavishly on themselves.
The indictment alleges the couple used $882,300 in pandemic aid funds to purchase gadgets that additionally included a automobile, dinners, tuition for his or her youngster and cryptocurrency. The fraud concerned three loans obtained between March 2020 and October 2021, authorities mentioned.
Beforehand launched courtroom paperwork from the state abuse of corpse case reveal extra particulars about what they had been spending cash on.
They purchased a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti that collectively had been price over $120,000 — sufficient to cowl cremation prices twice over for the entire our bodies discovered of their enterprise’ facility final October, in line with earlier courtroom testimony from FBI Agent Andrew Cohen.
“That is just thoroughly disgusting for a lack of a better term, just reading about all the money that they had,” mentioned Wilson. “Just the price of the two vehicles that he bought … it was enough to just do right by these families.”
The Hallfords additionally paid for journeys to California, Florida and Las Vegas, in addition to $31,000 in cryptocurrency, laser physique sculpting and procuring at luxurious retailers like Gucci and Tiffany & Co., in line with courtroom paperwork.
The couple haven’t but entered pleas to the state’s abuse of corpse prices.
The Hallfords left of their wake a path of unpaid payments, disgruntled landlords and unsettled enterprise disputes.
The couple as soon as claimed to a former landlord that they’d settle their hire after they had been paid for work that they had performed for the Federal Emergency Administration Company throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The enterprise’ web site featured logos for FEMA and the Division of Protection.
FEMA has mentioned they didn’t have any contracts with the funeral residence. A protection division database search additionally confirmed no contracts with Return to Nature.
The corporate didn’t pay greater than $5,000 in 2022 property taxes at considered one of its places, public information present. Then final yr, the enterprise was slapped with a $21,000 judgement for not paying for “a couple hundred cremations,” in line with public information and legal professional Lisa Epps with Wilbert Funeral Providers crematory.
The Hallfords’ alleged lies, cash laundering, forgery and manipulation over the previous 4 years devastated lots of of grieving family members.
The 190 our bodies had been found final yr in a bug-infested storage constructing within the small city of Penrose, about two hours south of Denver. A number of the stays had languished since 2019.
An investigation by The Associated Press discovered that the Hallfords probably despatched faux ashes and fabricated cremation information to households who did enterprise with them. They seem to have written on dying certificates given to households, together with ashes, that the cremations had been carried out by Wilbert Funeral Providers, which denied performing them for the funeral residence at the moment.
Because the decomposing our bodies had been recognized, households discovered that the ashes they’d acquired couldn’t have been the stays of their family members. Courtroom paperwork allege not less than some had been dry concrete.
Way back to 2020, there have been issues raised concerning the enterprise’s improper storage of our bodies. However there was no follow-up by regulators, letting the gathering of our bodies develop to almost 200 over the next three years.
Colorado has a few of weakest funeral residence rules within the nation. Funeral residence operators within the state don’t must graduate highschool, not to mention examine mortuary science or go an examination.
The Hallfords case and others in recent times spurred Colorado lawmakers to introduce laws to strengthen oversight with guidelines which are according to or exceed these in different states. These payments are at present shifting by way of the state Legislature.
