Funeral chapel proprietors charged of keeping worn out bodies anticipated to beg guilty to COVID-19 fraudulence

DENVER (AP)– Colorado funeral chapel proprietors charged of misspending nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 pandemic alleviation funds and living extravagantly, all while presumably stowing away 190 worn out bodies in a structure and sending out mourning family members phony ashes, are anticipated to beg guilty to government costs Thursday.

Jon and Carie Hallford, proprietors of Go back to Nature Funeral Chapel regarding an hour’s drive southern of Denver, have actually been billed with 15 government offenses connected to ripping off the united state federal government and the funeral chapel’s clients. Furthermore, over 200 criminal matters are currently pending versus them in Colorado state court, consisting of for corpse abuse and forgery.

The Hallfords made use of the pandemic help and clients’ repayments to acquire a GMC Yukon and Infiniti that with each other deserved over $120,000, laser body sculpting, journeys to The golden state, Florida and Las Las Vega, $31,000 in cryptocurrency and deluxe products at shops like Gucci and Tiffany & & Co., according to court files.

The government costs might bring approximately two decades behind bars and $250,000 in penalties.

Jon Hallford is being stood for by the government public protectors workplace, which does not talk about situations. Phone calls and e-mails to Carie Hallford’s legal representative in the government situation have actually not been returned, and her lawyer in the state situation, Michael Stuzynski, decreased to comment.

The government charge got here after in 2015’s exploration of the 190 remains in a bug-infested structure possessed by Go back to Nature in Penrose, a village southwest of Colorado Springs. The Hallfords presumably tucked away bodies as as much back as 2019, sometimes piling them on top of each various other, and in 2 situations hidden the incorrect body, according to court files.

An investigation by The Associated Press located that the Hallfords most likely sent out phony ashes and made cremation documents to family members that associated with them. Court files affirm that the dirt inside several of the bags was completely dry concrete, not the cremated remains of shed liked ones.

The exploration ruined loved ones of the dead, that started discovering that their relative’ remains weren’t in the ashes that they ceremonially spread out or held limited yet were still suffering in a structure. The tales triggered Colorado legislators to spot the state’s lax funeral chapel laws in 2024, calling for regular examinations of centers and licensing for funeral chapel functions.

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Bedayn is a corps participant of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Effort. Record for America is a not-for-profit nationwide solution program that positions reporters in regional newsrooms to report on undercovered problems.

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