Former Funeral Director Pleads Guilty

DENVER — Denver District Attorney John Walsh has announced that Miles Harford, the former owner of Apollo Funeral and Cremation Services, pleaded guilty today to one felony count of abuse of a corpse and one misdemeanor count of theft.

On February 6, 2024, Denver Police responded to Harford’s home on Quitman Street, where multiple boxes of cremated remains were found during an eviction. Police also discovered the remains of Christina Rosales in a hearse on the property.  The remains had been there for approximately 18 months. Harford had given the Rosales family the cremated remains of a different person in place of Ms. Rosales, with the intention of making them believe that Ms. Rosales had been appropriately cremated. Further investigation discovered several other inappropriate funerial practices.

“Miles Harford was entrusted by friends and family of the deceased with providing professional and dignified cremation services.  He violated that trust in an unimaginably harmful way — robbing those friends and family of their peace of mind and opportunity to grieve.  Mr. Harford is now accepting responsibility for those actions, which we hope will provide a measure of comfort to the friends and family of the deceased,” said DA Walsh.  “I want to recognize the prosecutors, investigators and victim advocates in my office, as well as the detectives with the Denver Police Department’s Homicide and Fraud Units, whose work on the case brought about this successful outcome.”

According to the terms of the plea agreement, Harford will face up to 18 months in prison when he’s sentenced on June 9.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jake Friedberg and Senior Deputy District Attorney Kate Horton are the prosecutors on the case representing the Denver District Attorney’s Office.  Peter Voris was the lead investigator.

About the Denver DA’s Office:

The mission of the Denver DA’s Office is to protect the community, to seek equal justice for all, and to improve the quality and fairness of criminal justice on behalf of the people of Colorado.   We achieve that mission through excellence in our work investigating and prosecuting crime, supporting victims and their families, working with the community to prevent crime, and providing fair alternatives to incarceration in appropriate cases.

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