Former Colorado funeral home director changes plea on fraud charges, improperly storing bodies
Carie and Jon Hallford, the former owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, are facing state and federal charges in connection with the case against them. They are being tried separately.
This all stems from an investigation in Oct. 2023. Carie and her husband Jon were arrested after police said they found 190 improperly stored corpses in the funeral home. The duo was found guilty of abuse of a corpse, but in federal court, they were facing charges of misusing COVID-era small business grants.
The fraud charges the Hallfords faced were also connected to the couple's failure to bury or cremate the bodies, although they had received payment for those services. They were accused of making false statements to the U.S. Small Business Administration in their efforts to qualify for three separate loans, totaling $882,300.
Families impacted by the Hallfords' actions are still waiting for a sentencing. With this plea agreement, they know the sentence will most likely not be anything more than 15 years in prison. But that is solely for the wire fraud charges she was facing. It does not include the sentence she is scheduled to receive for abuse of a corpse.
On Monday, Carie Hallford agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Family members of the deceased told CBS Colorado that the 15-year maximum sentence she now faces for this wire fraud charge is not enough.
"No, absolutely not. My son lay in the corner of an inoperable refrigerator for 4 years with rats and maggots eating his body and his face. Twenty years doesn't begin to count for justice, even for my sole son," one mother told us.
Jon has already been sentenced to 20 years in prison for his role in the wire fraud. Both are awaiting their state sentencing.
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