Carie Hallford helped her ex-husband hide nearly 200 decomposing bodies in a building. She faces up to 20 years in prison for taking over $130,000 from families for funeral services, including cremations, and often giving them urns full of concrete mix instead. In two cases, investigators found the wrong body was buried.
In August, Hallford pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and admitted that she and her ex-husband Jon Hallford cheated customers and defrauded the federal government out of nearly $900,000 in pandemic small business aid. Federal sentencing guidelines recommend prison time up to eight years since Hallford didn't have a criminal history. S.
District Judge Nina Y. S. Prosecutors also want a longer sentence because the former couple lavishly spent a pandemic-era small business loan on vehicles, cryptocurrency, pricey goods and laser body sculpting rather than on their Return to Nature funeral home in Colorado Springs.
Carie Hallford is asking to be sentenced to eight years. In court documents, defense lawyer Robert Charles Melihercik said Hallford's actions were motivated by 'fear and severe anxiety' and that her former husband used 'classic instruments of domestic violence' to control her. Some victims are not sympathetic to Carie Hallford, the public face of the business who met with families and assured them their loved ones would be treated with respect.
Emma Williams, whose family entrusted the Hallfords to take care of her father's remains in 2022, said Carie Hallford had a choice. The exact number of victims affected by the fraud and mishandling of bodies is not known. It is also unclear whether Jon Hallford has been charged or sentenced in relation to these crimes.
The sentencing will determine her prison term.