DENVER (CN) — The owners of a Colorado funeral home where prosecutors say nearly 200 bodies were found rotting in a warehouse pleaded not guilty on Thursday to federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy.
Last October, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office investigated a foul odor and discovered more than 180 decomposing bodies warehoused at the Return to Nature Funeral Home’s facility in Penrose, Colo., a town of 3,000 approximately two hours south of Denver. The business also operated in Colorado Springs.
The business owners, Jon and Carie Hallford, were first arrested in November 2023 on state charges for the abuse of a corpse, theft, money laundering and forgery. They are scheduled for arraignment in June.
Since being released on bond, the Hallfords have been living in a Colorado Springs hotel, delivering for DoorDash and complying with state court orders.
With the couple facing more than a dozen federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy — along with an estimated seven-year prison sentence — U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak declined to release Jon Hallford on bond. Varholak said he intends to release Carie to a halfway home next week when a spot becomes available.
From September 2019 through October 2023, the couple defrauded hundreds of people who sought funeral services, according to the 15-page grand jury indictment filed in the U.S. Court for the District of Colorado on April 10.
Charging between $900 and $1,400 for cremations and even more for burials, investigators say the Hallfords collected $130,000 over four years. Instead of burying or cremating bodies as contracted, they say 190 deceased individuals were left to rot in a warehouse.
Prosecutors say Carie Hallford ran the front of the business, interacting with customers and keeping the books, while Jon was responsible for transporting and preparing bodies for cremation or cemetery burial.
“This is not the typical wire fraud case,” U.S. Attorney Tim Neff said in court. “The Hallfords violated all societal norms that usually involve treating the remains of human beings with dignity.”
Neff said the Environmental Protection Agency has been tasked with demolishing the “macabre house of horrors where bodies were stacked like cord wood to be left to decompose.”
The prosecutor read messages Jon sent his wife in 2020, indicating he was unable to dispose of the bodies and was worried about being caught.
“Options," Jon wrote to his wife: "A. build a new machine ASAP. B. dig a hole and use lye. C. build a fire. D. I go to prison.”
Prosecutors say the couple also provided death certificates to families, falsely stating that deceased people had been buried or cremated as contracted. Families who expected to be provided with their loved ones’ remains were reportedly instead given urns "filled with dry concrete mix.”
Additionally, investigators say they discovered two bodies buried at the wrong grave sites.
On an application for Covid-19 relief funds, authorities say the Hallfords falsely represented their business wasn’t in violation of any law.
With $882,300 obtained from the Small Business Administration, the couple purchased, “a vehicle, multiple vacations, entertainment, dining, tuition for a minor child, cryptocurrency, cosmetic medical procedures, jewelry, various goods and merchandise from Amazon, and payments to other vendors unrelated to their business," a grand jury indictment states.
Federal Public Defender Laura Suelau, who is representing Jon Hallford, argued for the couple’s release since they have been complying with state court orders, where they face 286 charges and steeper sentences.
Carie Hallford is being represented by Arvada-based attorney Robert Melihercik.
To date, families who trusted the funeral home have filed two civil actions claiming negligence and fraud.
The Colorado Legislature in 2020 elevated the offense of abuse of a corpse to a Class 6 felony following the discovery of a body-brokering scheme at Sunset Mesa funeral home in Montrose. The legislature is additionally considering a bill that would require mortuary workers to obtain formal training and licensure to operate in the state.
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