Colorado funeral home owners who let bodies rot…

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Owners of a Colorado funeral home who allowed nearly 200 bodies to rot in a building at room temperature, bringing life to grieving families fake ashes He pleaded guilty to corpse abuse on Friday.

Allegedly, Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of Back to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies in a decrepit building near Colorado Springs starting in 2019, giving families dry concrete instead of cremated remains. The horrific discovery last year turned the family’s mourning process upside down.

Plea agreements reached between the defendants and prosecutors call for Jon Hallford to receive 20 years in prison and Carie Hallford to receive 15 to 20 years.

As the years passed, the Hallfords spent extravagantlyProsecutors say. They used clients’ money and nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds to buy laser body contouring, luxury cars, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 worth of cryptocurrency and other luxury items, according to court records.

Although the couple lived long, prosecutors said the bodies in the funeral home were decomposing.

“Bodies were lying on the floor, piled on shelves, left on stretchers, piled on top of each other or piled in rooms,” prosecutor Rachael Powell said. He said family members were “intensely and endlessly outraged” by the bodies discovered.

The Hallfords each pleaded guilty to 191 counts of abuse of corpses, for 189 bodies found decomposed and two for the wrong burial of bodies.

They also agreed to pay compensation in an unspecified amount. Additional charges of theft, forgery and money laundering will also be dismissed as part of the agreements.

It was decided that the sentence would be given on April 18.

Six people objecting to the plea agreements had requested to address the court ahead of Friday’s hearing. Prosecutors said they felt the length of the sentences under the plea agreement was inadequate, given the Hallfords’ behavior.

Judge Eric Bentley said they would have a chance to speak before sentences were handed down. If the judge rejects the plea deal, the Hallfords will be able to withdraw their guilty pleas and go to trial.

At the end of Friday’s hearing, Bentley revoked a bond that allowed Carie Hallford to remain free while the case continued. He was handcuffed in the courtroom while family members of the deceased applauded.

Jon Hallford was already in custody and was wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs for the hearing.

The Hallfords last month pleaded guilty They faced federal fraud charges in a settlement in which they admitted to defrauding customers and the federal government.

Jon Hallford is represented by the public defender’s office, which does not comment on cases. Carie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, declined to comment.

For four years, Back to Nature clients scattered what they thought were their loved ones’ ashes, sometimes in meaningful places. a plane’s flight away. Others carried their pots cross country road excursions or organized they are tight at home.

The bodies, which prosecutors say were improperly stored, were discovered last year after neighbors reported a foul odor coming from a building in the small town of Penrose, southwest of Colorado Springs.

Authorities found bodies piled on top of each other, some infested with insects. Among these were remains so decomposed that they could not be visually identified. The building was so toxic that responders had to wear hazmat gear and were only able to stay inside for short periods of time.

The discovery of the bodies at Back to Nature prompted state lawmakers to strengthen what are among the laxest funeral home regulations in the country. Unlike most states, Colorado did not require routine review of the credentials of funeral homes or business operators.

This year, lawmakers, largely with the support of the funeral home industry, brought Colorado’s regulations in line with most other states.

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Bedayn is a syndicated member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. report for america is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.