UPDATE: FRIDAY 8/22/2025 12:47 p.m.
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KXRM) — On Friday, Aug. 22, El Paso County District Court Judge Eric Bentley rejected the plea agreement for state charges of corpse abuse, which Jon Hallford, Co-owner of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, previously pled guilty to in 2024.
“[This is] reserved for the most extreme cases,” Judge Bentley said before rejecting the plea agreement.
Before taking a break ahead of his ruling just after 12:15 p.m. on Friday, Judge Bentley said he was moved by the statements made by the victim’s loved ones on Friday morning and said in part, “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”
Judge Bentley asked the defense whether or not Jon Hallford would withdraw his guilty plea, and the defense asked for two weeks to make that determination. The judge accepted the timeline and set a date of Friday, Sept. 12, at 9 a.m. for when all parties will be back in court.
If Hallford withdraws his plea, the case will go to trial.
ORIGINAL STORY: Jon Hallford to be sentenced on state charges Friday
THURSDAY 8/21/2025 5:41 p.m.
Co-owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home, Jon Hallford, will be in El Paso County Court on Friday, Aug. 22, for a sentencing hearing on 191 counts of corpse abuse.
Hallford already entered a guilty plea on federal fraud charges in June 2025 and received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for cheating customers and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 aid. He will appear in El Paso County Court on Friday for sentencing on state charges of corpse abuse, to which he pled guilty in 2024.
Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of the Return to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies in a decrepit building in Penrose as far back as 2019 and gave families dry concrete in place of cremated remains, according to the charges.
Hallford will be in court at 9 a.m. on Friday in El Paso County Court. FOX21 News will update this article as information becomes available.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
