The Colorado couple who owned a funeral house the place 190 decaying our bodies had been found final yr had been ordered to pay $950m to the victims’ households – a largely symbolic victory for households of the deceased.
In keeping with an e mail despatched to victims by Leventhal Lewis, the agency that filed the lawsuit, it’s the largest judgment in Colorado’s historical past.
The judgment is unlikely to be paid out, for the reason that funeral house was lengthy suffering from monetary difficulties. Nevertheless, Jon and Carie Hallford, who personal the Return to Nature funeral house, nonetheless face felony fees in a separate case.
“I’m by no means going to get a dime from them, so, I don’t know, it’s a bit of irritating,” mentioned Crystina Web page, who had employed the funeral house to cremate her son’s stays in 2019.
She carried the urn she thought held his ashes till the information arrived that his physique had been recognized within the Return to Nature facility, 4 years after his dying. “If nothing else,” she mentioned, this judgement “will convey extra understanding to the case.”
“I’m hoping it’ll make individuals go, ‘Oh, wow, this isn’t nearly ashes.’”
Investigators found practically 200 stacked and decaying our bodies on the funeral house in Penrose, Colorado in October final yr. The Hallfords allegedly fled Colorado to keep away from prosecution and had been arrested in Oklahoma in November. The couple had been charged with about 190 counts of abuse of a corpse, 5 counts of theft, 4 counts of cash laundering and greater than 50 counts of forgery.
The Hallfords had lengthy been beset by monetary troubles that included missed tax funds and an eviction.
The legal professional representing the households, Andrew Swan, informed the Related Press that the Hallfords didn’t acknowledge or attend hearings for the civil case. Jon Hallford is in custody and Carie Hallford is out on bail.
“I might have most popular that they take part, if solely as a result of I needed to place them on the witness stand, have them put underneath oath and ask them how they got here to do that, not as soon as, not twice, however tons of of instances,” mentioned Swan.
Web page mentioned it felt like one other slap within the face from the Hallfords.
Earlier this yr, federal officers indicted the Hallfords for fraudulently acquiring practically $900,000 in pandemic reduction funds, which they used to buy automobiles, holidays, tuition for his or her little one, cryptocurrency and beauty procedures. The couple had additionally accepted $130,000 in funds from households for companies they by no means supplied.
Colorado has among the laxest laws for funeral properties within the nation, however the case has spurred bipartisan laws to implement licensing necessities. Presently, Colorado funeral house operators usually are not required to be licensed, have a level in mortuary science and even graduate highschool.
Nevertheless, a legislation handed in Could, which is able to go into impact in 2026, would require funeral house operators to carry a mortuary science diploma, move a nationwide board examination, full a one-year apprenticeship and move a felony background verify.
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