Current:Home > StocksOwners of a Colorado funeral home where 190 decaying bodies were found are charged with COVID fraud -GrowthInsight
Owners of a Colorado funeral home where 190 decaying bodies were found are charged with COVID fraud
View
Date:2025-04-18 05:59:13
DENVER (AP) — The couple who owned a Colorado funeral home — where 190 decaying bodies were discovered last year — have been indicted on federal charges for fraudulently obtaining nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds from the U.S. government, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
The new federal charges against Jon and Carie Hallford add to charges in Colorado state court for abusing corpses.
The Hallfords’ attorneys didn’t immediately return phone messages and emails from the Associated Press. The couple have not yet entered pleas to the state’s abuse of corpse charges.
Even before the new indictment was unsealed, public records revealed that the Hallfords had been plagued by debt, facing evictions and lawsuits for unpaid cremations even as they spent lavishly and received more than $123,300 in Small Business Administration loans for COVID-19 relief, according to U.S. government data. They also got a $15,000 grant in pandemic relief, according to federal data.
They bought a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti that together were worth over $120,000 — enough to cover cremation costs twice over for all of the bodies found in their business’ facility last October, according to previous court testimony from FBI Agent Andrew Cohen.
They also paid for trips to California, Florida and Las Vegas, as well as $31,000 in cryptocurrency, laser body sculpting and shopping at luxury retailers like Gucci and Tiffany & Co., according to court documents.
But they left in their wake a trail of unpaid bills, disgruntled landlords and unsettled business disputes.
Once, the couple claimed to a former landlord that they would settle their rent when they were paid for work they had done for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the coronavirus pandemic. The business’ website featured logos for FEMA and the Department of Defense.
FEMA has said they did not have any contracts with the funeral home. A defense department database search also showed no contracts with the funeral home.
In 2022, the company failed to pay more than $5,000 in 2022 property taxes at one of their locations, public records show. Then last year, the business was slapped with a $21,000 judgement for not paying for “a couple hundred cremations,” according to public records and Lisa Epps, attorney for the crematory Wilbert Funeral Services.
The new federal charges are the latest example of the owners’ alleged lies, money laundering, forgery and manipulation over the past four years, devastating hundreds of grieving families.
The discovery of the 190 bodies last year, some that had languished since 2019, left families to learn their loved ones weren’t in the ashes they were given by the funeral home. Instead, they were decaying in a bug-infested building about two hours south of Denver.
An investigation by the Associated Press found that the two owners likely sent fake ashes and fabricated cremation records. They appear to have written on death certificates given to families, along with ashes, that the cremations were performed by Wilbert Funeral Services, who denies performing them for the funeral home at that time.
When the decomposing bodies were identified in the funeral home’s facility, families learned that the ashes they held could not have been the remains of their loves ones.
As far back as 2020, there were concerns raised about the business’s improper storage of bodies. But there was no follow-up by regulators, letting the collection of bodies grow to nearly 200 over the following three years.
Colorado has some of the most lax regulations for funeral homes in the country. Those who operate them don’t have to graduate high school, let alone get a degree in mortuary science or pass an exam. The case has pushed lawmakers to introduce bills bringing the rules in line with most other states, even surpassing some.
veryGood! (6)
Related
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- Overdose deaths involving street xylazine surged years earlier than reported
- Missouri woman imprisoned for library worker's 1980 murder will get hearing that could lead to her release
- His baby gene editing shocked ethicists. Now he's in the lab again
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Making It Easier For Kids To Get Help For Addiction, And Prevent Overdoses
- American Climate: In Iowa, After the Missouri River Flooded, a Paradise Lost
- Even the Hardy Tardigrade Will Take a Hit From Global Warming
- Appeals court scraps Nasdaq boardroom diversity rules in latest DEI setback
- Biden's sleep apnea has led him to use a CPAP machine at night
Ranking
- Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
- A federal judge has blocked much of Indiana's ban on gender-affirming care for minors
- These kids revamped their schoolyard. It could be a model to make cities healthier
- Even the Hardy Tardigrade Will Take a Hit From Global Warming
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- By Getting Microgrids to ‘Talk,’ Energy Prize Winners Tackle the Future of Power
- Here's What You Missed Since Glee: Inside the Cast's Real Love Lives
- Testosterone is probably safe for your heart. But it can't stop 'manopause'
Recommendation
Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
More brides turning to secondhand dresses as inflation drives up wedding costs
Court: Federal Coal Lease Program Not Required to Redo Climate Impact Review
Amazon Reviewers Swear By These 15 Affordable Renter-Friendly Products
House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
The Best Deals From Nordstrom's Half-Yearly Sale 2023: $18 SKIMS Tops, Nike Sneakers & More 60% Off Deals
Two years after Surfside condo collapse, oldest victim's grandson writes about an Uncollapsable Soul
'No kill' meat, grown from animal cells, is now approved for sale in the U.S.
Like
- Can Bill Belichick turn North Carolina into a winner? At 72, he's chasing one last high
- The 25 Best Amazon Deals to Shop on Memorial Day 2023: Air Fryers, Luggage, Curling Irons, and More
- Millionaire says OceanGate CEO offered him discount tickets on sub to Titanic, claimed it was safer than scuba diving