Funeral director admits to committing fraud by providing families with imitation remains
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Carie and Jon Hallford, the owners of Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado, stand accused of committing fraud and deceiving customers and the federal government.
According to federal charges, the Hallfords allegedly carried out two schemes: falsifying documents to siphon pandemic-era financial aid and deceiving customers by taking payments for cremations that were never carried out.
In a plea agreement pending the approval of a judge, Carie Hallford admitted to cheating customers and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000. She pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The Hallfords promised so-called green burials with biodegradable caskets but instead stored nearly 200 decomposing bodies in an unrefrigerated building for years. They provided families with urns filled with concrete dust instead of the actual ashes and sometimes sent the wrong bodies for burial.
The Hallfords also pocketed around $130,000 of customers' payments meant for cremations or burial services. In a separate case in state court, both Hallfords have been charged with 191 counts of corpse abuse.
Many families learned that their loved ones' remains weren't in the ashes they spread or held tight but were instead decaying in the building. The building, discovered in 2023 in Penrose, Colorado, contained bodies stacked atop each other, swarms of bugs and maggots, and so much liquid on the ground it had to be pumped out.
Jon Hallford has already pleaded guilty to the 191 counts of corpse abuse in the state case and a fraud charge in the federal case, for which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The Hallfords spent the money, including federal funds, on luxury products such as a GMC Yukon, laser body sculpting, vacations, jewelry, and cryptocurrency.
A family member of a deceased individual, Crystina Page, expressed disappointment that neither Hallford may go on trial, hoping for answers about what happened to her son and others.
The federal case against the Hallfords is ongoing. Carie Hallford faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, with federal prosecutors agreeing to ask for 15 years at a December sentencing hearing.
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- Despite the ongoing federal investigation, the Hallfords' funeral home, Return to Nature Funital-health mental-health general-news, was accused of fraudulently taking payments for 'green burials' and deceiving customers by using concrete dust instead of authentic ashes.
- In addition to the state charges of 191 counts of corpse abuse, the Hallfords were also found to have squandered funds from customers intended for cremations or burial services on luxury items such as vacations, cryptocurrency, jewelry, and a GMC Yukon, events that were not related to health-and-wellness or mental-health issues, nor covered under general news categories.
