A Colorado funeral home owner was given a 20-year prison sentence for defrauding the federal government and lying to customers in the state of Colorado.
Jon Hallford, the owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado, and his wife Carie Hallford, both of whom kept bodies between 2019 and 2023, was wanted by federal authorities for a 15-year sentence.
US District Judge Nina Wang argued that a longer sentence was appropriate given the circumstances and seriousness of John Hallford’s crimes as well as the emotional harm he caused to families.
Judge Wang remarked, “This is not a typical fraud case.”
In the small town of Penrose, which is 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of Denver, in 2023, an “abhorrent smell” was reported coming from the property, so investigators were called in to the deteriorating, insect-infested building.
Investigators at the trial alleged that finding the bodies piled high with human remains and being unable to enter some rooms.
FBI agents were also required to place boards so they could circulate between the crime scene and above the body fluid that had accumulated on the ground.
For the first time in history, many families were uncovered by investigators in the morbid 2023 discovery that Return to Nature’s ashes were fakes. According to court records, Hallford had sent families urns filled with dry concrete mix, and in two instances, the wrong body had been buried.
Jon Hallford admitted to a total of 191 corpse abuse counts in state court in separate charges. In August, he will be sentenced for those offenses.
In September, Carie Hallford will go on trial for the federal case. She will appear at her next state court hearing that month, where she is also accused of 191 counts of corpse abuse.
Fraud at COVID-19
Jon Hallford was also imprisoned for defrauding the US government of nearly $900,000 in emergency financial aid for Americans dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Hallfords “defrauded the Small Business Administration through fraudulent COVID-19 loan applications,” according to the US Attorney’s Office in a news release.
Federal prosecutors claimed the Hallfords snuck the cash and used it to purchase luxury items from retailers like Gucci and Tiffany &, Co., as well as customers’ purchases, including more than $ 120,000 in luxury vehicles.
According to the District of Colorado, Jon Hallford was also ordered to pay “$ 1, 070, 413.74 in restitution for a conspiracy to commit wire fraud.”
According to a statement from the District of Colorado, the Hallfords “collected more than $ 130, 000 from grieving families for funeral services that were never provided.”
Hallford allowed bodies to accumulate in various decay and decomposition inside the funeral home’s facility, according to the statement.
Jon Hallford claimed when the bodies were discovered that he practiced taxidermy on the property, according to an order that suspended the home’s status as a funeral home.
Jon Hallford told the judge in court before the sentencing that he had “opened Return to Nature” to improve people’s lives, but “then everything got completely out of control.”
Source: Aljazeera
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