HONOLULU, HAWAII: The Daily Beast said that a US defense contractor and his wife who used the identities of two dead Texas children for decades have been charged with identity theft and plotting against the government. The charges come from federal court records that were made public in Honolulu.
Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison, who are both 67, are said to have used fake names for more than 30 years without permission. Both Bobby Edward Fort and Julie Lyn Montague, the names they used to live under, were arrested on July 28 in Kapolei, which is on the island of Oahu.
The documents also say that “since then, they have been committing fraud crimes.”” Court records show that Primrose and Morrison were both born in 1955. They went to high school together in Port Lavaca, Texas, and then both went to Stephen F. Austin University. In 1980, they got married. Court documents don’t say why the couple, in 1987, took on the identities of children who had died and were more than ten years younger than them. But, according to AP News, an affidavit filed by Special Agent Dennis Thomas of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service said that the couple had lost their home in Nacogdoches, Texas, to foreclosure that same year.
The fact that prosecutors want to keep the couple in jail without bail could mean that the case is about more than getting fake driver’s licenses, passports, and Defense Department IDs. These papers helped Primrose get a secret security clearance with the US Coast Guard and a job as a defense contractor. In court papers, Assistant US Attorney Thomas Muehleck said that old photos of the couple show them wearing uniforms from the KGB, which was the old Russian spy agency. In the motion to hold them, there were faded Polaroids of each person in uniform.
Primrose joined the US Coast Guard when he was 39 years old, but because he used a stolen identity, his age was listed as 27. This made him eligible. He worked at Barbers Point for 20 years and then became the treasurer of the Hawaiian Islands chapter of the Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers’ Association. The documents say that when Primrose retired from the Coast Guard in 2016 after working as an avionics technician, he got a job with US Company 1, a contractor for the Department of Defense, where he still works.
Investigators say that Primrose has had a security clearance from the government for more than 20 years, which he got because of his service. Documents show that he has also had a “secret clearance” for that job for the past six years. The documents also say that Primrose didn’t report all of his international travel, which he was supposed to do while he had a secret clearance.
Muehleck said that a “close friend” of Morrison’s said that he lived in Romania when it was part of the Soviet bloc. Morrison’s lawyer said that her client had never lived in Romania and that she and Primrose had tried on the KGB uniforms as a joke and posed for pictures while wearing them. Even if the couple used different names, their lawyer, Megan Kau, said they have been following the law for 30 years. Kau said, “She wants everyone to know that she’s not a spy.” “Everything has been made way too big of. It’s too much for the government to do.” Prosecutors said it is likely that the couple would run away if they were freed. They also said that Primrose was very smart and could talk secretly if she was freed. Muehleck said that the couple might also use other names.
O’Grady, an Army reservist and lieutenant colonel judge advocate, said that the Coast Guard works closely with the Army and Navy, helps with counterintelligence, and is the country’s maritime border patrol. He said that the Coast Guard has a unique view of our weaknesses, such as how to get into the country through water ports. Hawaii, which is a big military hub, “is a prime target for a lot of spying and other illegal activities,” he said. The news that a dead child’s name had been stolen came as a shock to one family on Wednesday, July 29. John Montague was shocked to find out that someone had been living under his daughter Julie’s name for so long. Julie died when she was only 3 weeks old in 1968. Montague, who was 91 years old at the time, told APNews, “I still can’t believe it happened.” “The chances that they found her and used her name are about one in a trillion. People today will stoop to do anything. Let kids sleep quietly.”
One document says that Primrose and Morrison might have made up other names. Investigators found proof in the couple’s home that the greetings in the letters didn’t use Bobby, Julie, Walter, or Gwynn’s names. “The couple lived in a small bungalow with two rooms and palm trees in a suburb of Honolulu. Mai Ly Schara, who lived next door, said that they owned the house next door and rented it out to military people. She knew them as Bob and Lynn, and Morrison was Julie Lyn Montague’s middle name, so she called them Bob and Lynn. She said that Primrose did yard work for Schara for $50 per month. Morrison took in and fed cats. He also had them spayed and neutered. She also had several rabbits, which got their own room. Schara said, “They kept to themselves, but they were friendly.” “They were just, like, kind of nerdy.” Schara didn’t really know what Primrose did for a living, but he thought it had something to do with the military. Morrison used to work as a valet at a Waikiki hotel, but he had also been tutoring kids in the area.
