Colorado Funeral Home Owners Charged with Hiding Corpses Enter Guilty Plea to Federal Fraud Charges

A hearse and debris at the rear of the Return to Nature Funeral Home in Penrose, Colo., on Oct. 5, 2023. Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP

DENVER—The owners of a Colorado funeral home, accused of deceiving customers and misusing nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds while allegedly storing 190 decaying bodies and providing grieving families with fake ashes, pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal fraud charges related to client deception.

Jon and Carie Hallford each admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Their plea agreement, which includes a provision that prosecutors will not seek a sentence longer than 15 years, still requires judicial approval.

The Hallfords, who run Return to Nature Funeral Home about an hour south of Denver, faced an additional 14 federal charges concerning fraud against the government and their clients, which will be dismissed as part of the plea deal. In Colorado state court, they are already facing over 200 criminal counts, including allegations of corpse abuse and forgery.