Jon Hallford, the co-owner of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in southern Colorado, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in federal court on Friday. He pleaded guilty last fall in connection with misusing federal pandemic relief funds in regard to his business.
Jon Hallford's sentence will be served concurrently with El Paso County's sentence. The judge ordered restitution at more than $1 million which is broken down as follows: $193,000 to be shared by the families of victims with the Small Business Administration awarded more than $876,000.
Jon Hallford's wife, Carie Hallford, withdrew her guilty plea in federal court earlier this year and will instead go to trial. The trial date in federal court has been scheduled to begin on Sept. 8.
The couple faced charges in an indictment from the federal government for allegedly misspending nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds. They each pleaded guilty to defrauding customers in October 2024.
As part of the plea agreement, Jon and Carie Hallford each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. --->READ MORE HERE
A Colorado funeral home owner who stashed nearly 190 dead bodies in a decrepit building and sent grieving families fake ashes received the maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison on 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 in federal court last year.
Separately, Hallford pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse in state court and will be sentenced in August.
At Friday’s hearing, federal prosecutors sought a 15-year sentence and Hallford’s attorney asked for 10 years.
Judge Nina Wang said that although the case focused on a single fraud charge, the circumstances and scale of Hallford’s crime and the emotional damage to families warranted the longer sentence.
“This is not an ordinary fraud case,” she said.
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 and his wife, 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. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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