A Colorado couple accused of allowing nearly 200 corpses to decay in a building connected to their funeral home have been indicted on federal charges of fraudulently obtaining a total of $882,300 in pandemic relief funds.
An indictment filed last week in U.S. District Court in Denver said Jon Hallford and Carie Hallford, who own the shuttered Colorado Springs-based Return to Nature Funeral Home, submitted false information to the U.S. Small Business Administration and received three separate payments totaling nearly $900,000.
The Hallfords “made material misrepresentations to the SBA regarding their eligibility to qualify for such loan and grant funds” on their application for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan, according to the indictment. The alleged misrepresentations included falsely stating that they weren’t engaged in illegal activity or more than 60 days delinquent on child support obligations.
The Hallfords were expected to make their initial appearance in court on the indictment Monday. If convicted of the 15 counts, which include wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the couple could face 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to court documents.
No attorneys for the Hallfords were listed on the federal records.
The couple already faced trial on more than 200 state counts of corpse abuse, money laundering, forgery and theft. They are scheduled to enter pleas to those felony charges in June with a tentative trial set for October.
The investigation into the Hallfords began when nearly 200 decomposing bodies were discovered inside a decrepit building in October 2023 in Penrose, south of Colorado Springs, after neighbors complained of the smell coming from the building.
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The funeral home used the building in Penrose where the bodies were found as a mortuary, according to reports. The couple used money they received from families and insurance companies for cremations and burials to on personal expenses, including trips, shopping at luxury retailers and cryptocurrency, according to arrest affidavits.
The Hallfords are suspected of putting concrete mix in urns instead of cremated remains and giving the fake ashes to the relatives of the deceased.
In the indictment related to the pandemic relief money, the Hallfords are accused of using the funds on a vehicle, vacations, entertainment, cosmetic medical procedures, jewelry and items purchased from Amazon not related to their business. The indictment said the couple certified on the original loan agreement and amended agreements that the SBA loan would be used as working capital to ease the economic problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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