<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/usa" rel="" target="_blank" title="USA"><span>US</span></a><span>state judge has accepted plea agreements for the owners of a Colorado funeral home for the abuse of 191 corpses, many of which languished in a room-temperature building for years, over the objections of relatives of the victims.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/police" rel="" target="_blank" title="Authorities"><span>Authorities</span></a><span> say Carie and Jon Hallford, who owned and operated Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, maintained a lavish lifestyle and gave fake ashes to some families of the dead over four years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The latest plea agreements would have Jon Hallford sentenced to between 30 and 50 years and Carie Hallford to between 25 and 35 years. The sentences would be served at the same time as their </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/prison" rel="" target="_blank" title="prison"><span>prison</span></a><span> terms for related federal charges.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/canberra-moncrief-woman-arrested-biting-police-officer-kings-peace/5071c405-3595-4fb7-b4d2-b11fa19759cb" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Woman allegedly bites police officer after disturbing 'the King's Peace'</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Victims’ family members wanted each of them sentenced to 191 years — which would include one year for each victim. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Some also said the Hallfords shouldn't be able to serve both the state and federal sentences at the same time.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Jon Hallford is scheduled to be sentenced on February 6, Carie Hallford is set to be sentenced April 24.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/judge-accepts-plea-deals-from-colorado-funeral-home-owners-who-acknowledged-abusing-191-corpses/8fe1e2e0-8196-4e93-ae8f-61e9743f1555" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A statement by a group of victims’ family members had said they wanted to have the cases proceed to trial.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“This case is not about convenience or efficiency,” said Crystina Page, whose son’s body was among those found. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“It is about human beings who were treated as disposable.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Accepting a plea agreement sends the message that this level of abuse is negotiable. We reject that message.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Kelly Schloesser said her mother, Mary Lou Ehrlich, looked peaceful after she died in 2022, but her final memories have been haunted after learning a year later that Ehrlich's body had been left to decompose.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-beach-shooting-nsw-expected-to-pass-the-harshest-gun-reforms-in-australia/5c124ed4-0d82-47aa-abb9-78595c167b6e" rel="" target="_blank" title="NSW expected to pass gun and hate speech laws as Premier shakes off High Court challenge"><strong><span>NSW expected to pass gun and hate speech laws as Premier shakes off High Court challenge</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“I apologise to my mother every day for trusting these people,” she told state District Judge Eric Bentley.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Lawyers for both Hallford urged Bentley to accept the plea agreements, which will also ban them from working in the funeral home industry. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Carie Hallford’s lawyer, Beau Worthington, noted that she would be eligible to be sentenced to probation if she was convicted after a trial.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In a rare decision, Bentley earlier this year rejected previous plea agreements that called for up to 20 years in prison, with family members of the deceased saying the proposed punishments were too lenient.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bentley praised families of the victims for their advocacy in </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/courts" rel="" target="_blank" title="court"><span>court</span></a><span>, which he said resulted in the sentence ranges being lengthened dramatically.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“These are really meaningful changes from where I sit,” he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/bondi-terror-attack-more-details-gun-crime-hate-speech-crackdown-revealed-prime-minister-anthony-albanese/4ec6030e-a3da-472e-9769-3f9e46e47a57" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Non-terror groups that 'hate Australia' target of new reform</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Bentley said he could not legally stack the state sentences on top of the federal ones because that would amount to punishing the Hallfords twice for the same conduct.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Hallfords are accused of dumping bodies and giving families fake ashes between 2019 and 2023.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Investigators have described finding the bodies in 2023 stored atop each other in a bug-infested building in Penrose, a small town about a two-hour drive south of Denver.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The scene was horrific, officials said, with bodies stacked atop each other in various states of decay — some having been there for four years.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>While Jon Hallford was accused of dumping the bodies, authorities said Carie Hallford was the face of the funeral home.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/clyde-fatal-stabbing-stabbing-victim-dies-after-car-crashes-en-route-to-hospital/bc6034a2-87c3-4a81-9ccb-5400dcfacbca" rel="" target="_blank" title=""><strong><span>Stabbing victim dies after car crashes en route to hospital</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>During a hearing in November, Bentley said he considered the need for deterrence in rejecting the plea agreement. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Colorado, for many years, had some of the weakest funeral home industry regulations in the nation, leading to numerous abuse cases involving fake ashes, fraud, and even the illegal selling of body parts.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In August, authorities announced that during their first inspection of a funeral home owned by the county coroner in Pueblo, Colorado, they found 24 decomposing corpses behind a hidden door.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>That investigation is pending as authorities have reported slow progress in identifying corpses that, in some cases, have languished for more than a decade.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Return to Nature case has helped trigger reforms, including routine inspections.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Hallfords also have admitted in federal court to defrauding the US Small Business Administration of nearly $US900,000 ($1.34 million) in pandemic-era aid and taking payments from customers for cremations the funeral home never performed.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f"><em><strong><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></strong></em></a><em><strong><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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