More charges against Colorado funeral home owner who had corpse in back of hearse for over a year
DENVER — A lawsuit against the owner of a Colorado funeral home accused of keeping a woman’s body in the back of a hearse over a year and the improper disposal of the cremated remains of at least 30 people has been postponed again, this time as prosecutors file additional charges.
Miles Harford was scheduled to enter a plea Monday to two counts of forgery, one count of abuse of a corpse and one count of theft at a court hearing in Denver that had already been postponed four times before.
Last week, prosecutors filed additional charges against Harford, including three more counts of abuse of a corpse to handle bodies or remains “in a manner that would offend normal family sensitivities.” The victims’ names were taken from the motion to add the new charges, but the crimes date back to 2019.
Harford also faces four more theft charges, including two involving victims.
There were no other details in court documents about the new charges, including how much money was allegedly taken from the four victims, how it was taken or how the three other bodies were misused.
Harford, 34, is represented by attorneys from the state attorney general’s office, which does not comment on its cases to the media. His next hearing is scheduled for January 17.
Harford was arrested in February after the body of Christina Rosales, who died of Alzheimer’s disease at age 63, was found covered in blankets in the back of a hearse and the cremated remains of at least 30 other people were found in a rental home. from the hearse to the crawl space.
According to Harford’s arrest affidavit, authorities had identified 18 people whose cremated remains were found in February.
Prosecutors said this in March more ash were discovered in the home and that many more charges could be filed against Harford.
Harford’s case is the latest in a series of prosecutions over the past decade involving Colorado funeral homes, including one that illegally sold body parts and another involving nearly 200 bodies were left to rot and families were allegedly given fake ashes. The owners have pleaded guilty to file charges of abusing corpses and to federal charges for defrauding customers and the federal government
Colorado’s funeral home regulations are among the weakest in the country, but such cases have led to reforms. This year, Governor Jared Polis two bills signed into law to overhaul industry oversight and bring Colorado in line with most other states.