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The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado announces that Carie Hallford, 48, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Hallford, who owned and operated Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs and Penrose with her husband and codefendant, Jon Hallford, mishandled at least 190 bodies over four years and defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) through fraudulent COVID-19 loan applications. Jon Hallford was sentenced in June to 240 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution for his role in the conspiracy.
According to the plea agreement, from as early as September 2019 through October 2023, Hallford and her husband failed to cremate or bury at least 190 bodies, despite having collected more than $130,000 from grieving families for funeral services that were never provided. The defendants failed to provide the basic core service it promised to some of its customers, either a cremation or a burial, and continued to collect payment from victims for funeral services and goods.
The plea agreement further states that Carie Hallford handled much of the banking, invoicing, contracting with customers, filing of required paperwork, bookkeeping and communications with customers. Both defendants routinely prepared death certificates for the deceased and then filed those certificates with the State of Colorado’s Electronic Death Registry. On many of the death certificates for the bodies found at the Penrose location, the defendants falsely stated that the “method of disposition” was by either cremation or burial when in truth there was no disposition as the bodies were left decomposing at the Penrose location. To carry out and execute the above fraud scheme, the defendant and her husband worked together to cause multiple interstate wire communications to occur.
The plea agreement goes on to state that from March 2020 to March 2022, Hallford and her husband conspired to defraud the SBA by submitting loan applications containing false information to obtain COVID-19 relief funds. As a result of this fraud, they received three separate disbursements from the SBA, totaling $882,300. The funds were obtained through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which was established to provide emergency support to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On October 5, 2023, federal and state officials searched the Penrose location, where they discovered multiple decomposing human remains in hazardous conditions. The toxic environment posed serious health risks to first responders and the public, requiring hazmat suits and strict decontamination protocols. The EPA later condemned and demolished the building, classifying it as a toxic waste site.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was enacted in March 2020 and was designed to provide emergency financial assistance to Americans dealing with the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act created the PPP, a program administered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that provided loans to small businesses to retain workers, maintain payroll, and certain other expenses consistent with PPP rules. Additionally, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several federal programs expanded eligibility for unemployment benefits.
United States District Judge Nina Y. Wang presided over the hearing. Carie Hallford’s sentencing is currently scheduled before Judge Wang for December 3, 2025.
The FBI Denver Field Office and the United States Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Several other state and local law enforcement agencies including the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the Colorado Springs Police Department, the El Paso County Coroner’s Office, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office, and the Fremont County Coroner’s Office have made significant contributions to this case. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Tim Neff and Craig Fansler.
Case Number: 1:24-cr-00113-NYW