In Denver, a former funeral home operator from Colorado has been sentenced to 18 months behind bars for his disturbing misconduct involving the deceased. This comes after he admitted to abandoning a woman’s corpse in a hearse for more than a year and improperly storing the cremated remains of at least 30 individuals. The Denver District Attorney’s Office confirmed the sentence in a recent announcement.
At the age of 34, Miles Harford confessed in April to a felony charge of abusing a corpse as well as a misdemeanor theft charge. Other charges against him, including forgery and further theft allegations, were dropped as part of a plea bargain. The 18-month jail term he received represents the maximum penalty permissible under Colorado law for the charges he faced.
“The harm caused by Miles Harford to numerous families is irreversible,” stated Denver District Attorney John Walsh in a Monday announcement. “However, we hope this sentence offers some form of justice to the families and friends of those affected.” Walsh emphasized the egregious breach of professional and ethical duties committed by Harford, noting that he is now being held accountable for his actions.
The arrest last year of Harford followed the grim discovery of Christina Rosales’ body inside his hearse. Rosales, who was 63 at the time of her death due to Alzheimer’s, had her remains hidden for approximately 18 months, enveloped by blankets. Authorities revealed that Harford had deceived the Rosales family by providing them with ashes from a different person, falsely claiming they were Rosales’.
Further investigation unveiled the improper storage of additional cremated remains in Harford’s rented premises, some of which were located in the crawlspaces of the property. Prosecutors remarked that Harford managed the bodies and remains in a manner likely to deeply offend typical family values and expectations.
This case adds to a series of distressing funeral home scandals in Colorado over recent years. Notably, there have been instances where business owners were caught housing nearly 200 bodies in poor conditions and delivering counterfeit cremated remains to grieving families. As these alarming practices come to light, the focus on ethical standards in mortuary services remains critical for both Colorado and the broader industry.