A couple arrested last year after at least 190 bodies were found decomposing in their Colorado funeral home were arrested again Sunday on federal charges that they fraudulently received more than $880,000 in pandemic relief money that spent on vacations and personal items, according to FBI and court records.
The couple, John and Carrie Holford, who own Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs and Penrose, Colo., face 15 federal counts of fraud, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Colorado that was unsealed Monday.
The new federal charges add to state charges, including abuse of corpses, facing the Halfords in Colorado after at least 190 bodies were found decomposing at their Penrose funeral home last October in a scene authorities described as “horrific.”
Mr. Holford and Ms. Holford appeared before Magistrate Judge Scott T. Warholak in Denver on Monday afternoon. During a 13-minute hearing, Judge Warholak did not immediately decide whether the Holfords should be released pending trial and scheduled an arraignment hearing for them on Thursday, according to court documents.
During the hearing, Assistant United States Attorney Tim Neff argued that Halford was a flight risk and said they had fled to Oklahoma last year when the decomposing bodies were initially discovered, the Associated Press reported.
Ms. Holford was booked into the Jefferson County Jail. It is not clear where Mr Holford is being held.
A lawyer for Ms. Holford did not immediately return a phone call Monday. There was no listing in federal court filings for Mr. Holford’s lawyer. Attorneys representing them on the state charges did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
The Holfords could each face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted in the federal case, according to the federal indictment. Federal prosecutors did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
From March 2020 to October 2021, Halford applied for small business loans for pandemic relief, receiving three separate payments totaling $882,300, according to the indictment. In documents they provided to the Small Business Administration, the Holfords said they did not engage in criminal activity but operated “an ongoing fraud scheme to defraud customers of their business,” according to the federal indictment.
After Holford received his loans, much of the money was spent on maintaining a lavish lifestyle, according to the indictment. The Holfords spent money from the S.BA. vehicle loans, ‘multiple vacations’, dining out, cryptocurrency, cosmetic medical procedures, jewelery and tuition for a child.
“Holford used the majority of the loan proceeds for their personal benefit,” the indictment said.
Court documents in the state case further detail how the Halfords spent money from their pandemic relief loans. The couple spent thousands on trips to California, Florida and Las Vegas, $3,400 on Tiffany jewelry and more than $19,000 on Amazon items, according to El Paso County District Court records.
The Halfords also made $130,000 from families paying for cremations or burials that never took place, according to the federal indictment.
The Halfords gave their families or friends urns filled with dry concrete in place of the deceased’s remains, the federal indictment said. On at least two occasions, the Holfords knowingly provided the wrong body for burial at the cemetery, and the couple did not provide the next of kin as the wrong remains were buried, the indictment said.
The Halfords face more than 250 charges in the state case, including 190 counts of abuse of a corpse and various counts of money laundering, forgery and theft. Each could face a year to 18 months in prison on each count of abuse of a corpse, according to the District Attorney’s office in Colorado’s Fourth Judicial District.
Holford is scheduled to appear in court in Colorado on June 9 for a arraignment hearing, according to the district attorney’s office.
