The owners of a Colorado Springs funeral home already accused of allowing some 190 bodies to decompose in their facility now face charges of defrauding the government.
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According to court documents relayed Monday by various American media, Jon and Carie Hallford fraudulently pocketed US$882,000 (approximately CAN$1.2 million) in state aid during the COVID-19 pandemic. This money would have been used to pay for cars, sumptuous dinners and trips, to invest in cryptocurrency and to pay their child’s school fees.
The couple was already accused of pocketing tens of thousands of dollars for funeral services they never performed. For example, rather than conducting cremations, the Hallfords could pass off concrete as ashes to deceive their customers, investigators allege.
The two lovebirds together have 190 charges of indignity to a corpse, five charges of theft, four charges of money laundering and more than 50 charges of forgery.
If convicted, they could spend around twenty years behind bars, in addition to being fined up to US$250,000 (approximately CAN$345,000).
