A 40-year-old Colorado man, Jon Hallford, will spend decades in prison after being sentenced for wire fraud. Halford, a funeral home owner, mishandled at least 190 bodies over several years and sent grieving families fake ashes.
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According to a release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, Hallford was sentenced to 240 months (20 years) in federal prison on June 27, 2025. He will also have to pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution after defrauding the federal government and deceiving his clients.
Hallford’s plea agreement detailed that, from September 2019 through October 2023, he “failed to cremate or bury at least 190 bodies.” Furthermore, Hallford, despite this, managed to collect more than $130,000 from family members. He led them to believe he was to provide funeral services. Halford, however, never did.
Corpse Abuse
As a result of his refusal to give proper burial or cremation to the bodies, he chose, instead, to accumulate the decaying and decomposing remains in his funeral home. He blocked windows and doors, and even restricted access to the building to prevent his disturbing acts from being discovered.
The plea agreement added that Hallford also filed false death certificates with the State of Colorado. These lead to “inaccurate cremation records.”
Instead of receiving their family member’s ashes, some families received urns filled with concrete mix. Furthermore, Hallford also delivered the wrong bodies for burials on two different occasions.
In addition to the crimes mentioned above, as per the release, Hallford and his wife, Carie, conspired to defraud the Small Business Administration. They submitted fraudulent loan applications to obtain COVID-19 relief funds. In total, they received $882,300 in three disbursements.
According to the New York Post, Jon Hallford pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2024 in a federal court. He also pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse and will be sentenced in August. His wife, Carie, is scheduled to go to trial in September.
“Jon Hallford’s criminal fraud was a vehicle to exploit grieving families so he could give himself a lavish life with luxury cars and expensive vacations,” United States Attorney Peter McNeilly said. “His actions were not just fraudulent, but deeply inhumane. We offer our condolences to the families who continue to suffer because of Mr. Hallford’s crimes and we hope this case brings them some measure of peace.”