Arraignment for funeral home owner accused of leaving body in hearse delayed again

DENVER (AP) — An arraignment for a funeral home owner accused of keeping a woman’s corpse in the back of a hearse for over a year and improperly stashing the cremated remains of at least 30 people was delayed again on Friday.

Miles Harford had been scheduled to enter a plea to two counts of forgery, one count of abuse of a corpse and one count of theft during a court hearing in Denver. But after a prosecutor and Harford’s lawyer had a short, private conversation with Judge Jay Grant at the bench, Grant said the hearing would be rescheduled for Dec. 9.

The reason for the delay wasn’t explained publicly in court. Harford, escorted by two sheriff’s deputies, declined to comment as he left.

Harford, 34, is represented by lawyers from the state public defender’s office, which does not comment on its cases to the media.

Three previous arraignments for Harford were also rescheduled.

Authorities say the corpse and the remains were discovered at Harford’s home during an eviction in February. The body of Christina Rosales, who died of Alzheimer’s at age 63, was found covered in blankets in the back of a hearse, and the cremated remains allegedly were stashed throughout the property — from inside the hearse to the crawlspace. As of February, authorities had identified 18 people whose cremated remains were found, according to Harford’s arrest affidavit.

In March, prosecutors said more ashes were discovered at the home and that many more charges, similar to the current ones, could be filed against Harford. No new charges have been announced so far.

It’s the latest in a series of prosecutions over the past decade involving Colorado funeral homes, including one that illegally sold body parts and another where nearly 200 bodies were left to rot and families were allegedly sent fake ashes.

Colorado’s funeral home regulations have been among some of the weakest in the nation, but such cases have led to reforms. This year Gov. Jared Polis signed two bills into law to overhaul oversight of the industry and bring Colorado in line with most other states.

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