Latest news with #fraud
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Funeral home owner who stashed nearly 190 decomposing bodies sentenced to 20 years in prison
A Colorado funeral home owner who stashed nearly 190 dead bodies in a decrepit building and sent grieving families fake ashes was sentenced to 20 years in prison in federal court Friday for cheating customers and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000 in Covid-19 aid. Jon Hallford, owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud last year and had faced a maximum of 20 years in prison. Federal prosecutors sought a 15-year sentence and Hallford's attorney asked for 10 years. In court before the sentencing, Hallford told the judge that he opened Return to Nature to make a positive impact in people's lives, 'then everything got completely out of control, especially me.' 'I am so deeply sorry for my actions,' he said. 'I still hate myself for what I've done.' Hallford will be sentenced in August in a separate state case in which he pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse. Hallford and co-owner Carie Hallford were accused of storing the bodies between 2019 and 2023 and sending families fake ashes. Investigators described finding the bodies in 2023 stacked atop each other throughout a squat, bug-infested building in Penrose, a small town about a two-hour drive south of Denver. The morbid discovery revealed to many families that their loved ones weren't cremated and that the ashes they had spread or cherished were fake. In two cases, the wrong body was buried, according to court documents. Many families said it undid their grieving processes. Some relatives had nightmares, others have struggled with guilt, and at least one wondered about their loved one's soul. Among the victims who spoke during Friday's sentencing was a boy named Colton Sperry. With his head poking just above the lectern, he told the judge about his grandmother, who Sperry said was a second mother to him and died in 2019. Her body languished inside the Return to Nature building for four years until the discovery, which plunged Sperry into depression. He said he told his parents at the time, 'If I die too, I could meet my grandma in heaven and talk to her again.' His parents brought him to the hospital for a mental health check, which led to therapy and an emotional support dog. 'I miss my grandma so much,' he told the judge through tears. Federal prosecutors accused both Hallfords of pandemic aid fraud, siphoning the aid and spending it and customer's payments on a GMC Yukon and Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, along with $31,000 in cryptocurrency, luxury items from stores like Gucci and Tiffany & Co., and even laser body sculpting. Derrick Johnson told the judge that he travelled 3,000 miles to testify over how his his mother was 'thrown into a festering sea of death.' 'I lie awake wondering, was she naked? Was she stacked on top of others like lumber?' said Johnson. 'While the bodies rotted in secret, (the Hallfords) lived, they laughed and they dined,' he added. 'My mom's cremation money likely helped pay for a cocktail, a day at the spa, a first-class flight.' Hallford's attorney, Laura H. Suelau, asked for a lower sentence of 10 years in the hearing Friday, saying that Hallford 'knows he was wrong, he admitted he was wrong' and hasn't offered an excuse. Asking for a 15-year sentence for Hallford, Assistant US Attorney Tim Neff described the scene inside the building. Investigators couldn't move into some rooms because the bodies were piled so high and in various states of decay. FBI agents had to put boards down so they could walk above the fluid, which was later pumped out. Carie Hallford is scheduled to go to trial in the federal case in September, the same month as her next hearing in the state case in which she's also charged with 191 counts of corpse abuse.
CTV News
an hour ago
- Business
- CTV News
Quebec woman says scammers mimicked RBC, taking $15,000 in a convincing fraud
A Quebec woman says scammers posing as RBC representatives drained thousands from her business account in a convincing fraud.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pastor stole $200K from California church while its founder was dying, authorities say
A former assistant pastor at an Oxnard church admitted to stealing $200,000 from the house of worship — while the congregation's founder was on his deathbed — and spending the money on flights, a phone and a new Tennessee home, authorities said. On Friday, Curtis Frank Lemons, 68, was sentenced to two years in state prison for misappropriating funds from New Progressive Christian Baptist Church in Oxnard, according to the Ventura County district attorney's office. In December 2020, Lemons issued himself a $200,000 cashier's check from a bank account belonging to the church, authorities said. He then moved from Camarillo to Atoka, Tenn., and spent the stolen funds on airline tickets, dental work, a new car, a new cell phone and property between January and April 2021, prosecutors said. Lemons carried out his scheme while the tight-knit baptist community was contending both with the final months of life of its founder, the Rev. Jesse James Taylor, and the challenges of delivering remote prayer during the pandemic, Ventura County Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Howard Wise told The Times. Read more: Leaders of California food bank spent millions on cars, Vegas trips, home renovations, suit says Taylor used money he made in Oxnard real estate to help support the church and build a community of worship for friends and family, said Wise, who prosecuted the case. A significant portion of the stolen $200,000 came from the reverend's own pockets. "Mr. Lemons stole from a vulnerable victim at a vulnerable time,' Wise said in a statement. 'The patriarch of the church was near death when this happened ... Mr. Lemons made a terrible decision but has accepted responsibility for his significant theft.' Taylor, who was affectionately known as "Uncle Rev.," founded the church in 1963 alongside his wife Lura Dell Taylor, according to his obituary. He died in August 2021 at age 87. The Oxnard Police Department investigated the theft after it was reported by a member of the church. Lemons initially told police that he had given the money to charity, however financial records later revealed that he had spent the money on personal expenses, Wise said. In April, Lemons pleaded guilty to two counts of grand theft and one count of money laundering. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Construction company laundered $13M from NYC in school repair scheme: feds
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn charged the owners of a construction company on Friday with defrauding the nation's largest school district in connection with more than $13.5 million worth of repairs. Dalip Singh, 67, and Gurnirmal Singh, 64, of TEMCO Construction exploited undocumented immigrants without work authorization, falsified payroll records and eventually tried to destroy the evidence, according to the complaint. Both Singhs, who are not related, were arrested Friday, prosecutors announced. 'As alleged, the defendants lied to the [city's Education Department] about using undocumented workers, and deprived those workers — who toiled long days, school holidays and weekends — of proper compensation they had earned, so that they could line their pockets and bank accounts on New York City's tab,' Joseph Nocella, Jr., United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. TEMCO Construction, formerly based in Jamaica, Queens, before moving to Long Island, provides masonry, scaffolding and construction services to the city's public schools. Between 2017 and this year, prosecutors say TEMCO used undocumented labor and paid their workers in cash less than the wage required by New York State labor law and school system contracts — all while pocketing the difference. Dalip Singh covered up the scheme on payrolls submitted to the city's Education Department, according to the complaint. On those certified documents, he allegedly listed family members who didn't do the repairs, omitted some workers who were undocumented, and inflated the pay of others. In some cases, employees had their wages docked on non-school-related jobs to offset legal pay, it read. The employers then 'attempted to conceal their fraud,' prosecutors say, telling workers to lie to investigators about their wages and hide or destroy records. If found guilty of conspiring to commit wire fraud, the company's owners could face up to 20 years in prison, according to a press release announcing the charges. 'New York City Public Schools expects that employees of vendors be paid consistent with contractual requirements — anything less is unacceptable and would be considered a breach of contract,' said schools spokeswoman Jenna Lyle, adding, 'We cannot comment on a pending criminal action.' Attorney information was not readily available for Dalip Singh and Gurnirmal Singh, whose case remained under seal as of early Friday afternoon.
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
Funeral home owner who stashed 190 decomposing bodies in abandoned building and sent families fake ashes jailed
A TWISTED funeral home owner who stashed 190 decomposing bodies in a bug-infested building and handed grieving families fake ashes has been jailed for 20 years. Jon Hallford, co-owner of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in southern Colorado, was sentenced in federal court on Friday. 5 5 5 The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud over a gruesome scheme that shocked the nation. He admitted fleecing clients and siphoning nearly $900,000 in Covid-19 relief funds meant for struggling businesses — splurging the cash on luxury shopping sprees, laser body sculpting, flashy cars and cryptocurrency. His sentence is five years more than prosecutors requested, and double what his own lawyer pushed for. 'I am so deeply sorry for my actions,' Hallford told the judge. 'I still hate myself for what I've done.' He added that he opened the funeral home hoping to 'make a positive impact in people's lives,' but admitted: 'Then everything got completely out of control, especially me.' Bodies piled up 'like lumber ' Hallford and his wife, Carie Hallford, who co-owned the funeral home, ran their grisly scam between 2019 and 2023. Investigators were first alerted in October last year when neighbours in Penrose, a tiny town two hours south of Denver, complained of a foul stench. Cops who turned up made a stomach-churning discovery — at least 190 bodies stacked atop each other in various states of decay, so badly decomposed that FBI agents had to lay boards over the sludge to navigate the rooms. Some corpses had been left there for years, including the body of Colton Sperry's grandmother who died in 2019. Chilling details emerge after number of rotting bodies found at 'green' Colorado funeral home rises to 189 In court on Friday, the young boy tearfully told the judge he fell into a deep depression when he found out. He told his parents at the time: 'If I die too, I could meet my grandma in heaven and talk to her again.' His father later rushed him to hospital for a mental health check, which led to therapy and an emotional support dog. Another victim, Derrick Johnson, travelled nearly 3,000 miles to tell the court how his mother was 'thrown into a festering sea of death'. 'I lie awake wondering: was she naked? Was she stacked on top of others like lumber?' he said. 'While the bodies rotted in secret, [the Hallfords] lived, they laughed and they dined. 'My mom's cremation money likely helped pay for a cocktail, a day at the spa, a first-class flight.' Two families even buried the wrong bodies after being sent urns of worthless dust — devastating relatives who said it destroyed their ability to properly grieve. 5 5 Lavish spending spree Federal prosecutors revealed the Hallfords drained the pandemic aid and clients' money to bankroll a lavish lifestyle. They splashed out on a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, snapped up Gucci and Tiffany jewellery, spent $31,000 on cryptocurrency, and paid for laser body sculpting treatments. The sentencing also included an order for Jon Hallford to pay more than $1 million in restitution — with $193,000 to be divided among the victims' families and the rest to the Small Business Administration. Hallford will serve his 20-year term concurrently with a state sentence expected in August, after he pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse and hundreds of other state charges including forgery and money laundering. Meanwhile, his wife Carie withdrew her guilty plea in the federal case earlier this year and will now go to trial in September. She also faces 191 counts of corpse abuse in the state case. The pair were arrested in Oklahoma last November after going on the run. By then, the decaying funeral home had already been torn down.
