On June 28, 2025, Jon M. Hallford of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,070,413.74 in restitution for a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. This has been described as no ordinary fraud case—and with good reason—as Hallford still awaits sentencing on state charges related to abuse of a corpse. Hallford, who owned Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs and Penrose with his wife, Carie Hallford, mishandled at least 190 bodies over four years and defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) through fraudulent COVID-19 loan applications. Actions that are not only fraudulent, but deeply inhumane.
The plea agreement further states that from March 2020 to March 2022, Hallford and his wife conspired to defraud the SBA by submitting loan applications containing false information to obtain COVID-19 relief funds. As a result of this fraud, Jon and Carie Hallford received three separate disbursements from the SBA, totaling $882,300. The funds were obtained through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program, which was established to provide emergency support to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple allegedly used those funds for personal benefit by spending the money on things such as vehicles, multiple vacations, tuition, a cosmetic medical procedure and more.
Additionally, prior to filing for fraudulent pandemic relief loans, from as early as September 2019 through October 2023, Hallford failed to cremate or bury at least 190 bodies. Despite having collected more than $130,000 from grieving families for funeral services that were never provided. Instead of ensuring proper disposition of the remains, Hallford allowed bodies to accumulate in various states of decay and decomposition inside the funeral home’s facility.
Great job by the United States Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Return to Nature co-owner Jon Hallford receives maximum sentence in federal wire fraud case” published by The Gazette on June 28, 2025.
Shackled at the ankles and wrists, Jon Hallford — co-owner of the infamous Penrose Return to Nature Funeral home — appeared calm in federal court Friday morning as a Denver judge handed down a 20-year prison sentence, with three years of supervision, for one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, the maximum possible sentence.
Jon and Carie Hallford face both state and federal charges related to their funeral home business, which came under a multi-agency investigation after nearly 190 decomposing bodies were found in the Penrose Return to Nature Funeral Home.
