US funeral home owners accused of misusing pandemic relief funds on holidays, cosmetic surgery, jewelry, and cryptocurrency, allege sources in US News
The proprietors of a funeral home in the US have been accused of misusing close to $900,000 (£723,000) in pandemic relief funds on vacations, cosmetic procedures, jewelry, and cryptocurrency.
Jon and Carie Hallford, who own Return To Nature Funeral Home in Colorado, are already facing over 200 criminal charges in connection to the discovery last year of 190 decomposing bodies in a bug-infested storage facility.
These charges include mistreatment of corpses, money laundering, theft, and forgery. There are allegations of providing families with dry concrete instead of cremated remains, accepting payment for burials and cremations that were never carried out, and burying the wrong body on two occasions.
Now, they are facing an additional 15 charges for allegedly spending $882,300 (£708,000) of relief funds on luxury items such as two vehicles worth over $120,000, trips to various destinations, cryptocurrency, laser body sculpting, and high-end products from brands like Gucci and Tiffany & Co.
The couple appeared in federal court on Monday, where the prosecution argued that they posed a flight risk, given that they had fled to Oklahoma last October after the discovery of the decomposing bodies and again before their arrest on state charges in November.
The judge did not make a decision about their release pending trial, scheduling another hearing for Thursday.
Return To Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colorado. Pic: Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette/AP
The discovery of the 190 bodies, some of which had been there since 2019, shocked the state of Colorado, which has some of the US’s weakest funeral home regulations.
Concerns were raised as far back as 2020 about the business’s improper storage of bodies but regulators did not act, allowing the number of bodies to grow to nearly 200.
It was only after neighbors complained about the smell that authorities investigated the modest 2,500-square foot building in Penrose, located about 30 miles south of Colorado Springs.
Since the bodies were discovered, many families have been informed that the ashes they received could not have been those of their loved ones.
