Miles Harford’s guilty plea in Denver follows years of other gruesome funeral home cases in Colorado, including one where the owners were accused of storing nearly 200 bodies in a decrepit building and giving families fake cremated remains.

Harford, 34, faced a dozen counts including forgery, theft and four counts of abuse of a corpse, which prosecutors described as treating bodies or remains “in a way that would outrage normal family sensibilities.”

The plea agreement dismisses the rest of the counts, but the judge said the agreement requires that all victims be named within the two charges Harford pleaded guilty to, and that he would be liable for restitution including for the dismissed counts.

Harford was arrested a year ago after the body of a woman named Christina Rosales, who died of Alzheimer’s at age 63, was found in the back of a hearse, covered in blankets, along with cremated remains of other people stashed throughout Harford’s rental property, including in the crawlspace.

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

There were no other details in the court hearing on the charges, including how much money was taken from victims or how corpses were abused.

The funeral home cases over the years prompted lawmakers to pass sweeping new regulations of the funeral home industry in Colorado last year, which previously had little oversight.

The sentencing is scheduled for June 9.

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Bedayn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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Troopers and Denver police officers raided the property at about 6 p.m., finding three-quarters of the roughly 600 pounds of drugs that were taken earlier this month, according to a CSP news release.

No suspects were present at the property, and no arrests were made, though law enforcement also found a stolen pickup truck that was not connected to the theft.

Colorado State Patrol Trooper Sherri Mendez declined to say where the property was located, citing the need to protect the agency’s ongoing investigation.

Denver police have also recovered a Chevy Silverado truck that troopers previously said was involved in the crime, according to the release.

The theft was discovered April 4, when an evidence technician walking through a CSP storage lot in Arapahoe County noticed a damaged gate.

Investigators then discovered that a trailer on the lot had been broken into and its contents — several hundred pounds of trafficked marijuana, scheduled for destruction — were gone.

The thieves are believed to have used power tools to remove locks from the gate and trailer April 1.

Troopers said in the news release that the recovered marijuana has since been placed in “a secure interior location” managed by CSP.

Anyone with information about the theft is encouraged to contact the agency at 303-239-4501.

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The theft was discovered Friday morning when an evidence technician was conducting a property walkthrough of the Arapahoe County facility, according to a news release from Colorado State Patrol.

State patrol officials believe the marijuana was stolen after dark three days earlier on Tuesday, April 1, according to the release.

No suspects had been identified as of Wednesday afternoon, but investigators were searching for two cars that might be connected to the burglary: a light-colored Chevrolet Silverado and a white Honda CRV, the release stated.

State patrol officials said the thieves used a power tool to remove a lock on the evidence facility’s gates.

“Security camera system checks and exterior property walkthroughs have been increased to identify security issues faster and ensure evidence integrity,” officials stated in the release. “A comprehensive internal investigation is now underway to determine if established protocols were violated.”

There was no active case involving the marijuana and no other evidence was stolen, state patrol officials said in the release.

A report was filed with the Englewood Police Department, but the Colorado State Patrol is actively investigating the burglary.

Anyone with information on the burglary or the suspect vehicles is asked to contact state investigators at 303-239-4501

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Law enforcement announced Tuesday that they arrested Ana Ferrer on April 4 on several charges tied to the August 2024 death of Paul Peavey, the 57-year-old owner of the company Elite European Dobermans. Those charges include accessory to a serious felony, theft valued between $20,000 and $100,000 and tampering with physical evidence.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation filed an affidavit for Ferrer’s arrest warrant last month, and she was extradited from Nebraska to Clear Creek County last week, according to the county sheriff’s office.

Ferrer is the wife of Sergio Ferrer, who counted as the first arrest in the case. Last August, he was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated robbery, and he is still in jail.

Law enforcement reports that Peavey was last heard from on Aug. 19 and reported missing on Aug. 21. Around that time, as many as 10 Doberman pinscher puppies went missing, and they still have not been found, according to police. A search party of friends and family found Peavey’s body on Aug. 24.

An autopsy by the Clear Creek County Coroner’s Office revealed that Peavey was likely killed around Aug. 19, and he died from a gunshot wound.

As Peavey’s homicide investigation continues, the county sheriff’s office asks anyone with information about the crime or the missing dogs — all of which are microchipped — to call its office tip line at 303-670-7567, to submit a tip via email at crime_tips@clearcreeksheriff.us or to anonymously submit a tip online at https://bit.ly/CCSOCrimeTips.

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The eight-month pilot program resulted in law enforcement recovering about 170 cars and arresting nearly 300 people. It helped solve homicides, robberies and hit-and-runs, according to the Denver Police Department.

But as the City Council prepares to decide whether to extend the program for another two years, the surveillance gear is raising privacy concerns and questions about whether federal agents could obtain the data for activities like deportations.

Here’s how the cameras work: When a car passes through an intersection with a camera, it takes a photo of the license plate and what the vehicle looks like. The system then cross-references the license plate with national and local law enforcement databases. If a plate matches one listed in the system as stolen or involved with a crime, the Denver Police Department is notified — with a pinpoint of where the photo was taken — within about 15 seconds.

“It’s just a concern that we’re creating some serious potential for unintended consequences by using the tech,” Councilwoman Sarah Parady said during a Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee meeting last week.

The Denver Police Department says the company, Flock, only stores the photos for 30 days unless they are flagged as part of an investigation. Flock also doesn’t have contracts to work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“For anyone to access our DPD data… they have to sign and attest that they won’t give the information to ICE or use it for civil violations related to that,” Denver police Cmdr. Jacob Herrera said.

The two-year extension of the 111 cameras deployed throughout Denver would add $666,000 to the contract, bringing the total program cost to about $1 million.

Car thefts have gone down in Denver since the pilot program began. In 2023, more than 12,000 cars were stolen in the city. In 2024, there were about 8,500 car thefts, according to Denver police data. Herrera attributes that decrease to multiple initiatives, including the cameras.

During the committee meeting, Councilwoman Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez raised questions about whether DPD tracks when the system makes mistakes. Detroit recently paid $35,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging a woman and her child were wrongly detained as a result of the Detroit Police Department’s use of license-plate readers.

Herrera said Denver police don’t have a formal system for tracking false positives, but that the department makes sure officers know the technology isn’t foolproof.

“We communicate very strongly to the officers… You still need to be an observer, an investigator, before you pull this car over or take action. This is just a probability, it’s not a certainty,” he said.

The system takes photos of about 2 million cars every month on average, Herrera said. The photos are limited to the vehicles themselves and don’t include drivers or passengers.

Councilman Kevin Flynn asked during the meeting whether the system could be challenged as a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures.

“This system doesn’t have any of those features that have caused either the United States or the Colorado Supreme Court to say there have been constitutional violations,” said Matthew Kirsch with the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

The Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee forwarded the proposal to the full council, which is scheduled to vote on the measure April 14.

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Their plans included an accessory dwelling unit above the garage so Nicole’s parents could live with them as they aged.

“This is the first time we’ve ever done this,” Nicole Kirby said. “We were so excited.”

So in June 2023, the Kirbys enlisted Castle Rock-based Adamo Building Company — which does business as Adamo Homes — to make their dreams a reality. The couple put down a $50,000 deposit and another $7,500 to complete the architecture plans.

The house never got built. Adamo, through its owner Carl Dean Amann, stopped returning their messages. The Kirbys’ architect told them the company had gone out of business and absconded with their money, they said. Contractors who hadn’t been paid by Adamo placed a lien on their property.

“They just dropped off the face of the Earth,” Tyler Kirby said of Amann and his company.

The Kirbys are among dozens of people in Colorado who allege they’ve been scammed by Adamo Homes. The company has been sued nearly 40 times since last year, racking up allegations of theft and fraud from jilted banks, contractors and property owners.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Amann is one of the subjects of a criminal investigation looking into the bankruptcy of a construction company based in the county, though a spokesperson wouldn’t say which one.

Amann and other company representatives could not be reached for comment. The firm’s website is no longer active and phone numbers for the business have been turned off. The homebuilder’s listings on Google and Yelp say “permanently closed.”

The cascade of lawsuits began last May and continued through this month.

One Texas couple sued Adamo in July, alleging they paid the builders nearly $500,000 to construct a home in Parker. In September 2023, they broke ground on the residence, but the couple later learned Adamo had failed to pay its subcontractors and suppliers, the complaint alleges. Numerous mechanic’s liens were placed on the property.

The company submitted false and inaccurate invoices, the couple said in their lawsuit, and allegedly charged the family for materials the homeowners never ordered. In April, the company abandoned the project.

The home, as of the lawsuit’s filing, had not been completed.

Numerous subcontractors have also sued Adamo over nonpayment. Alpine Lumber Company alleges the company owes it more than $46,000 for labor, materials, equipment and goods. Peak View Roofing says the business owes it nearly $40,000.

A Castle Rock landlord sued Adamo over more than $30,000 in unpaid rent.

An archived version of Adamo’s website advertises the company’s homes as being “built true.”

“Adamo stands behind character, craftsmanship and positive relationships,” the business stated. “As builders, we built our company with you in mind.”

Meanwhile, families like the Kirbys wonder whether they’ll see any of their money returned.

A Douglas County judge in September awarded the couple more than $122,000 in damages, though they haven’t seen a dime yet.

Nicole’s parents, thinking they’d be moving to Denver to live in the house, sold their residence in Arizona. They’ve been living with Nicole’s brother as they wait for the house to be completed.

The Kirbys eventually found another homebuilder to begin the process again. They hope to move into their new house in Berekely in December, a full year later than expected.

“We were too trusting in this process,” Tyler Kirby said. “Unfortunately, that’s not how the world works.”

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A historic 200-year-old painting of President George Washington stolen from a storage unit last year was recently recovered, according to the Englewood Police Department.

The early 1800s painting was reported stolen in January 2024 from a storage facility in the 3300 block of Santa Fe Drive.

It remained missing until investigators received an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip earlier this month that led them to a man who obtained the painting while staying at a Denver hotel, Englewood police said Monday.

The man told police a hotel clerk gave him the painting after finding it in a vacated room, but he hesitated to come forward because of the widespread publicity around the theft.

After two weeks of negotiations, the man gave the painting to the police on Friday. Other than minor cosmetic damage to the frame, the painting is undamaged and will be turned over to an insurance company, according to the department.

Englewood police do not believe the man who turned the painting in was involved in the original theft and he isn’t facing any charges. Investigators are still looking for suspects in the theft.

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Breider Jhoan Ospino-Morillo, 24, was arrested in Auburn Hills, Mich., by local police responding to a theft from a clothing store, Aurora police wrote in a social media post.

A Colorado arrest warrant was issued in December for Ospino-Morillo, who faces charges of second-degree kidnapping, aggravated robbery, menacing with a deadly weapon and extortion. He is also suspected of retail fraud in connection with the incident in Auburn Hills, said Joe Taylor, a civilian employee of the Auburn Hills Police Department.

Ospino-Morillo is the 11th person to be arrested after the kidnapping at the troubled Aurora apartment complex that was shuttered in February. Police Chief Todd Chamberlain previously said the victims, a man and woman who lived at the complex, were bound, pistol-whipped, threatened and tortured for hours. The man also was stabbed.

One other suspect, whom Aurora police spokesperson Sydney Edwards said the department is not identifying publicly, remains at large.

Aurora police wrote that Ospino-Morillo was in the custody of federal law enforcement as of Friday afternoon.

U.S. Border Patrol chief Michael Banks wrote in a separate post shortly after the Auburn Hills arrests that one of the arrestees, whom he did not name, was “wanted for kidnapping and torture in Colorado and is linked to the notorious Tren de Aragua gang.” Banks wrote that the individual also faces a federal immigration charge.

Edwards said Ospino-Morillo hasn’t been documented as a Tren de Aragua member by Aurora police but that Aurora’s policies for documenting gang members may not be the same as those of federal law enforcement.

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Brenda Hamilton, 51, on Monday admitted to embezzling public property, a class five felony. Three additional counts of embezzlement and charges of theft, impersonating a peace officer and official misconduct were dropped as part of her plea deal.

Hamilton and her father, Robert Gordanier, were indicted last year after prosecutors say Gordanier bought police vehicles and sold them for a fraction of their market value to Hamilton, who resold the vehicles for thousands of dollars more.

Hamilton also allegedly tried to detain a suspicious person while behind the wheel of a police vehicle in 2023, despite not being certified as a police officer in Colorado, and used a town credit card to shop at Costco.

Gordanier pleaded guilty to embezzlement and official misconduct in January and was sentenced to four years of probation. Hamilton will be sentenced May 5, according to court records.

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One man in the front of the store fell to the ground, faking a seizure to distract employees, according to surveillance footage released by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office.

The video shows another man briefly hovering near the scene before walking to the back of the store, opening a kennel, and grabbing two bulldog puppies.

“Hey, what are you doing?” an employee can be heard asking as she moves to intercept the thief. “Hey, no. Stop! Stop! Stop!”

Two employees tried to tackle the man, grabbing at his legs and tripping him. The puppies went flying and the thief scooped them back up before running out the door. The man faking a seizure stayed still, lying on the floor at the front of the store.

The thief, along with another man, then got into a gold Cadillac Escalade with tinted windows and no license plates and sped off. Investigators believe the getaway driver was a woman.

Arapahoe County sheriff’s officials said in a news release that the theft happened at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday in the Perfect Pets store at 6840 South University Boulevard.

Three men walked into the store a few minutes apart, walked around and asked the employees questions about the bulldog puppies kept in a locked pen in the back of the store, each worth $4,300, before staging the distraction, sheriff’s officials said.

One of the puppies returned home Monday night after a woman realized it matched the description of the dogs stolen from Perfect Pets, according to the sheriff’s office.

She told investigators that she purchased the bulldog for $1,500 from a street vendor in north Denver.

Timothy Davis, the 37-year-old man who faked a seizure, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a felony, theft and drug possession, sheriff’s officials said. He’s scheduled to appear in court Thursday afternoon for a filing of charges hearing.

Deputies are still searching for three other suspects: two men who entered the shop around the same time as Davis and the driver of the getaway vehicle.

Anyone with information about the suspects or missing bulldog puppy should contact investigators at 720-874-8477. Tipsters can remain anonymous.

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