COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The owners of a Colorado funeral home accused of piling 190 bodies in a building at room temperature and giving them to grieving relatives fake ash pleaded guilty on Friday to abuse of corpses as the injured families were hounded in court.

Jon and Carie Hallford, who own Return to Nature Funeral Home, began storing bodies in a decrepit building near Colorado Springs as early as 2019 and gave families dry concrete instead of cremated remains, according to the charges. Last year’s grim discovery changed the families’ grieving processes.

The plea agreements reached between the defendants and prosecutors call for Jon Hallford to receive a 20-year prison sentence and Carie Hallford to receive 15 to 20 years in prison.

Over the years, the Hallford family spent extravagantlysay the prosecutors. They used customer money and nearly $900,000 in pandemic relief funds to buy laser sculptures, luxury cars, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, $31,000 in cryptocurrencies and other luxury items, according to court filings.

Even though the couple lived large, prosecutors said the bodies at their funeral home were decomposing.

“The bodies were lying on the ground, stacked on shelves, left on trays, stacked on top of each other or just piled up in rooms,” said prosecutor Rachael Powell. She said family members of the bodies that were discovered “were intensely and eternally outraged.”

The Hallfords each pleaded guilty to 191 counts of abuse of corpses over bodies found decomposing and two cases of the wrong bodies being buried.

He also agreed to pay restitution, with the amount yet to be determined. Additional charges of theft, forgery and money laundering would be dismissed under the agreements.

Sentencing was set for April 18.

Six people with objections to the plea deals asked before Friday’s hearing to address the court. They found the length of the sentences under the plea agreement to be insufficient given the Hallfords’ behavior, prosecutors said.

Judge Eric Bentley said they would have an opportunity to speak before sentencing. If the judge rejects the plea deal, the Hallfords could withdraw their guilty pleas and go to trial.

Last month, the Hallfords pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in a plea deal in which they admitted defrauding customers and the federal government.

Jon Hallford is represented by the public defender’s office, which does not comment on cases. Carrie Hallford’s attorney, Michael Stuzynski, declined to comment.

Over the course of four years, Return to Nature clients spread what they believed to be the ashes of their loved ones in meaningful locations, sometimes the flight of a plane far away. Others carried their urns further cross country road trips or outfits collected them at home.

The bodies, which prosecutors say were improperly stored, were discovered last year when neighbors reported a stench coming from a building in the small town of Penrose, southwest of Colorado Springs.

Authorities found bodies stacked on top of each other, some full of insects. Among them were remains too degraded for visual identification. The building was so toxic that responders had to wear hazmat gear and could only stay inside for short periods.

The discovery of the bodies at Return to Nature prompted state lawmakers to strengthen what had been among the laxest funeral home regulations in the country. Unlike most states, Colorado did not require routine inspections of funeral homes or credentialing of business operators.

This year, lawmakers brought Colorado’s regulations on par with most other states, largely with the support of the funeral home industry.

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

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