Colorado funeral home owners plead guilty in fraud case

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    MorningMagazine_2024-10-28 Jack Dawson

Cardiologist sentenced to 158 years for sexually assaulting women

A Denver-based cardiologist was sentenced to 158 years in prison on Friday, for drugging 10 women he met on dating apps and sexually assaulting eight of them.

Stephen Matthews lured women to his townhouse in west Denver after dates from apps like Hinge and Tinder. Matthews would then spike their drinks and sexually assault them in his home. Many women took the stand to say they have sporadic memories of their nights with Matthews, with some gaining consciousness surprised to find themselves naked in bed having been raped by him. The dates took place between 2019 and 2023.

Matthews was first convicted by a jury for those crimes back in August.

Judge Eric Johnson said the evidence against Matthews, who is in his thirties, was “overwhelming.”

Before the sentencing, Johnson heard victim impact statements from 21 people, including the victims, their families, and supporters. Matthews’ parents asked the judges for a lighter hearing during his sentencing, saying that he could be “rehabilitated.”

Matthews did not speak at his sentencing, and his attorney says an appeal is in the works. That’s all according to CBSNews.

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12 mail ballots were stolen, 3 were counted as votes

At least 12 mailed ballots were stolen from Mesa County voters and sent in with fraudulent votes, according to state officials last week.

Three of those ballots made it past election administrators, and were counted in next month’s general election.

Mesa County officials discovered the fraudulent ballots during the voter signature verification process, at which point they were able to stop eight of the 12 ballots. The remaining stolen ballot was reported by the registered voter themselves, after they received an electronic notification that their ballot – which they had yet to get in the mail – had been accepted by the elections office.

The three counted fraudulent ballots cannot be removed from the tally, since they were removed from the signature envelopes before officials realized they were stolen.

Mesa County officials and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service will continue to search for a possible motive, according to AP News.

The County had counted over 27,000 ballots as of last Wednesday.

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Colorado funeral home owners plead guilty to fraud

The owners of a Penrose funeral home accused of improperly storing nearly 200 bodies have pleaded guilty for defrauding customers.

Jon and Carie Hallford, owners of the Return to Nature funeral home, misspent over $800,000 in COVID federal relief funds while leaving 190 bodies to decay in a building.

They were charged with 15 federal counts for defrauding the federal government and the funeral home’s customers.

Under a plea agreement, both owners admitted guilt to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Each faces up to 20 years in prison.

Together, the Hallfords still face over 200 criminal charges, according to the U.S Attorney’s Office. Those include abuse of a corpse, theft, and forgery. The owners are scheduled to appear in state court for a plea hearing November 8.

The Penrose funeral home made headlines late last year, when investigators entered the building and found dozens of stacked bodies, some with death dates as far back as 2019. The Hallfords sent fake ashes to families, including urns filled with a dry concrete mix, as well as fabricated cremation records.

A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

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Bandimere Speedway sold for $51 million

An automobile auction firm has purchased the property that currently houses Bandimere Speedway. California-based Copart purchased the 150-acre site last Tuesday for $51 million, according to public records. 

The Speedway, contained fully within Morrison’s town limits, includes the track and its parking lots. Copart plans to turn the track into a storage lot for cars awaiting resale. As a part of the deal, Copart agreed to transfer 16 acres of land near C-470 and Morrison road to allow for retail development.

The Bandimere family opened the Speedway in 1958 and hosted its last race in July of 2023. While the track will no longer be in commission, there are plans for a relocation near Hudson, along I-76. That’s according to The Denver Post.

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Walden, Colorado tied for coldest place in the U.S. on Saturday

A small northern Colorado town tied for the coldest place in the contiguous United States on Saturday morning.

Walden, Colorado saw a low of 15 degrees, the same as the temp recorded 32 miles southwest of Bynum, Montana, that same morning. That’s according to a tweet by the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center.

Other Colorado towns also saw similar temperatures, including Fraser at a low of 17 degrees and Crested Butte with a low of 18 degrees. Meanwhile, the highest temperatures in the United States were in Arizona and California at 101 degrees.

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Jack Dawson

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