Staff Reports
A couple in Colorado is in hot water after being accused of some seriously shady behavior. Jon Hallford, 44, and Carie Hallford, 47, of Penrose, Colorado, are under fire for allegedly mishandling a whopping 190 dead bodies at their funeral home. That’s not the only thing they’re in trouble for, though. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Colorado dropped another bombshell, announcing that the Hallfords have been charged with defrauding their clients and the Payment Protection Program to the tune of $882,300. Yikes!
The Payment Protection Program was set up by President Trump to help out businesses struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, so it’s a real low blow to see folks taking advantage of it. The Hallfords are facing a laundry list of charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. On top of that, they’re also in hot water for supposedly swindling their funeral home clients by not providing the services they were paid for. It’s alleged that they took money for cremation and burial services but failed to deliver the goods. Not cool, guys, not cool.
The whole thing unraveled when folks in the neighborhood caught wind of a funky smell coming from the Hallfords’ funeral home. The FBI swooped in and discovered a shocking 190 decaying bodies on the premises, some of which could have been there since 2019. Talk about a major league mess. The feds aren’t taking any of this lightly, either. The FBI and the Small Business Administration Office of the Inspector General are on the case, and Assistant United States Attorneys Tim Neff and Craig Fansler are bringing the heat.
Let’s hope justice is served and those poor souls can finally rest in peace. And as for the Hallfords, well, it looks like they’ve got a whole lot of explaining to do.
