A Colorado funeral home owner received a 20-year prison sentence for storing 191 decomposing bodies at his facility while providing families with fake ashes and defrauding federal COVID-19 relief programs.
Jon Hallford, owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home, was sentenced Friday by US District Judge Nina Wang, who exceeded the prosecution’s 15-year recommendation due to the extraordinary nature of his crimes and the emotional harm inflicted on families.
“This is not an ordinary fraud case,” Judge Wang stated while imposing the maximum 240-month sentence.
The grim discovery occurred in 2023 when investigators responded to reports of an “abhorrent smell” emanating from the dilapidated building in Penrose, located 160 kilometers south of Denver. Inside the insect-infested facility, they found human remains stacked on top of each other, with some rooms so filled with bodies that entry was impossible.
FBI agents were forced to place boards on the floor to navigate around pooled bodily fluids during their investigation of the crime scene.
The investigation revealed that families had unknowingly received fake ashes from Return to Nature. Court documents showed Hallford had filled urns with dry concrete mix, while in two instances, incorrect bodies were buried. Many families only learned of the deception when authorities discovered the improper storage.
Jon Hallford faces additional charges in state court, having pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse with sentencing scheduled for August. His wife, Carie Hallford, will face federal trial in September and attend her next state court hearing that same month for similar corpse abuse charges.
Beyond the body storage violations, Jon Hallford was convicted of defrauding the federal government of nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 emergency financial assistance. According to the US Attorney’s Office in Colorado, the Hallfords submitted fraudulent loan applications to the Small Business Administration.
Federal prosecutors revealed that the couple used the stolen funds, along with customer payments, to purchase SUVs worth over $120,000, $31,000 in cryptocurrency, and luxury items from retailers including Gucci and Tiffany & Co. They collected more than $130,000 from grieving families for funeral services never provided.
Jon Hallford must pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The District of Colorado stated that instead of properly handling remains, “Hallford allowed bodies to accumulate in various states of decay and decomposition inside the funeral home’s facility.”
When bodies were discovered, Jon Hallford claimed he practiced taxidermy at the location, according to the order suspending the facility’s funeral establishment registration.
During Friday’s sentencing hearing, Jon Hallford apologized to the court, stating he had opened Return to Nature intending to positively impact lives but “then everything got completely out of control.”
“I am so deeply sorry for my actions,” he told the judge. “I still hate myself for what I’ve done.”
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