Carie Hallford Faces Sentencing in Funeral Fraud Scheme

Carie Hallford, the former operator of a Colorado funeral home, faces sentencing Monday in federal court for her role in a scheme that defrauded grieving families and misused nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds, leaving nearly 200 bodies to decompose in an unsecured facility.

Hallford, 48, pleaded guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She and her ex-husband, Jon Hallford, ran Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, promising eco-friendly green burials without embalming. Instead, from at least 2019 onward, they accepted payments for services including cremations but failed to perform them, providing families with urns containing dry concrete mix. Investigators confirmed at least two instances where families buried the wrong remains. The couple collected more than $130,000 from clients in this manner while also deceiving the federal government to obtain Small Business Administration loans.

The fraud came to light in November 2023, when authorities in Penrose, Colorado, responded to complaints about a foul odor emanating from the funeral home's off-site building. Inside, they discovered 190 bodies in various stages of decomposition, some...