COLORADO SPRINGS — Neva Nolan, the former owner of Nolan Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, was sentenced Friday to four years in prison.
Nolan, 71, who pleaded guilty to theft and abuse of a corpse, took more than $200,000 from people who prepaid for funeral services. She never honored the contracts or refunded the money. Investigators found 63 boxes of ashes — remains that families thought had been buried or spread at specified locations — in a storage shed.
Judge Barney Iuppa’s courtroom was packed Friday with victims who gave emotional statements about being taken advantage of in the name of greed. In arguing for a prison sentence, El Paso County Deputy District Attorney Bill Edie told Iuppa: “One set of ashes was being used as a stereo speaker stand. She just didn’t care . . . . She was selective about whose money she used appropriately and whose money she squandered away.”
