DENVER (AP) Due to new accusations brought by the prosecution, the arraignment of a Colorado funeral parlor owner who is suspected of unlawfully storing the cremated remains of at least 30 individuals and keeping a woman’s body in the back of a hearse for more than a year has been postponed once more.
At a court hearing in Denver that had been postponed four times, Miles Harford was supposed to enter a plea on Monday to two counts of forgery, one offense of mistreatment of a corpse, and one act of theft.
Prosecutors charged Harford with three further counts of abuse of a body last week for handling bodies or remains in a manner that would offend typical family sensitivities. The crimes were committed in 2019, but the victims’ identities were removed from the motion to add the new charges.
Four more theft accusations, two of which involve at-risk victims, are currently pending against Harford.
Court documents pertaining to the new allegations contained no additional information about the claimed amount of money taken from the four victims, its method of theft, or the manner in which the three other corpses were mistreated.
The state public defender’s office, which does not provide reporters with commentary on its cases, is the legal team representing Harford, 34. January 17 is the date of his upcoming court appearance.
After the cremated remains of at least 30 people were discovered strewn throughout a rental property, from the hearse to the crawl space, and the body of Christina Rosales, who passed away from Alzheimer’s at the age of 63, was discovered wrapped in blankets in the back of a hearse, Harford was taken into custody in February.
According to Harford’s arrest affidavit, officials had identified 18 individuals whose cremated remains were discovered as of February.
Prosecutors stated in March that Harford could face numerous additional counts after more ashes were found at the residence.
Harford’s case is the most recent in ten years of convictions against Colorado funeral establishments, including one that sold body parts illegally and another where families were reportedly delivered false ashes and over 200 bodies were left to fester. The owners have entered a guilty plea to federal counts of deceiving the federal government and customers, as well as state charges of abusing corpses.
Although Colorado has some of the laxest funeral home laws in the country, these cases have prompted changes. In an effort to modernize industry supervision and align Colorado with the majority of other states, Governor Jared Polis signed two legislation into law this year.
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