A Colorado Springs, Colo., couple who authorities say abandoned about 200 bodies in a building infested with maggots and flies has received more than $880,000 from coronavirus relief funds to pay for vacations, cosmetic surgery and other personal expenses. He faces additional charges for allegedly spending money.
John Hallford and his wife Carrie Hallford, who owned Back to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, were charged with 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, five counts of theft, four counts of money laundering, and more than 50 counts of forgery. was being asked.
According to an indictment unsealed Monday, the Hallfords used $882,300 from coronavirus pandemic relief funds to buy things for themselves, including cars, dinners, virtual currency and their children’s tuition. It is believed that US dollars were used.
The 15 federal crimes carry a possible sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors allege that between March 2020 and October 2021, John and Carrie fraudulently obtained three loans.
When a Colorado funeral home owner abandoned a body, he spent the money on cremation, burial, a vehicle and a $1,500 dinner.
A hearse and wreckage are seen at the rear of Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado, on October 5, 2023. John and Carrie Hallford, owners of the Colorado funeral home where 190 decomposed bodies were discovered, are laid to rest. He is scheduled to appear in court on December 5th on charges of abuse of human remains, theft, money laundering and document forgery. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette, via AP, File)
Previously released court documents relating to the corpse abuse case revealed details of what the Hallfords used the funds for.
They are said to have purchased a GMC Yukon and an Infiniti with a total value of more than $120,000.
The couple also traveled to California, Florida and Las Vegas, bought $31,000 in virtual currency, shopped at luxury stores including Tiffany and Gucci, and paid for laser body engraving, according to court documents. .
Colorado seeks compensation from funeral home owner after 190 decomposed bodies found
Pictured here are portraits of Return to Nature Funeral Home owners John Hallford (left) and Carrie Hallford (right). (Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, via AP, File)
FBI agent Andrew Cohen said in February that funds for the Yukon purchase, which he received as a pandemic-era small business loan adjustment, were fraudulently obtained after John lied about not being behind on child support payments. He testified that.
Court documents reaffirm charges by state prosecutors that the Hallfords gave family members dry concrete instead of cremated remains, while also alleging that the couple buried the wrong body on two separate occasions. are doing.
The Hallfords collected more than $130,000 from the family for cremation and burial costs, which were never carried out, according to the indictment.
Colorado funeral home owner accused of abandoning nearly 200 bodies in court
Sarah Lee Swoobrand’s death certificate is viewed on Thursday, October 19, 2023, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Abby Hovland said she believes Return to Nature Funeral Home provided cement dust in place of her mother’s remains. A business in Penrose, Colorado, where nearly 200 bodies were discovered this month may have falsified cremation records and given fake remains to families, according to information gathered by The Associated Press from customers and crematoriums. . (AP Photo/Thomas Pipert)
Cohen testified that the funds were enough to cover two cremations for all bodies found at the business’s premises in October.
They were arrested in November 2023 in Oklahoma after an investigation that began in October, prosecutors said. At that time, 190 bodies were discovered in a building serving as a mortuary storage facility in a nearby rural area.
Prosecutors previously presented text messages suggesting Carrie Hallford and her husband tried to cover up financial hardship by leaving her body in a Penrose building that was not working when the body was discovered. There was a makeshift refrigeration unit that had not been used, Cohen testified.
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Prosecutors say John Hallford feared he would be arrested retroactively in 2020 and disposed of the body by dumping it in a large pit and then disposing of it with lye or setting it on fire. He suggested that he do so.
“My sole focus is to keep us out of jail,” he wrote in a text message, prosecutors allege.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
