Colorado funeral home owner accused of sending fake ashes pleads guilty to fraud
DENVER — A Colorado funeral home owner admitted to sending grieving families fake ashes and defrauding the federal government out of nearly US$900,000 in a plea agreement with federal prosecutors Monday.
Carie Hallford, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. As part of the agreement, Hallford admitted to sending families dry concrete in place of ashes and stashing decomposing bodies in a room-temperature building.
U.S. District Judge Nina Wang rejected a previous agreement between Hallford and prosecutors last year. Wang will decide whether to accept the current agreement that includes dropping 14 other federal charges. Hallford's sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 3 and prosecutors are asking for no more than 15 years.
In a separate case in state court, Carie and her husband, Jon Hallford, are charged with 191 counts of corpse abuse for burying the wrong body in two cases and stashing about 190 others in a room-temperature building in Penrose, Colorado, about a two-hour drive south of Denver.
Some of the bodies languished for four years, many stacked atop each other in various stages of decay.
Jon Hallford has pleaded guilty to fraud in the federal case and to the 191 counts of corpse abuse in the state case. Carie Hallford initially pleaded guilty to the corpse abuse counts in the state case but has since withdrawn her plea. Hallford's next hearing in that case is Sept. 4.
Colleen Slevin and Jesse Bedayn, The Associated Press
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