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RUSSIAN SPIES? Hawaii couple who stole DEAD BABIES' identities has possible KGB ties

Primrose joined the US Coast Guard in 1994 when he was 39, but his age was listed as 27 as per his stolen identity, making him eligible

HONOLULU, HAWAII: A US defense contractor and his wife, who lived for decades under the identities of two dead Texas children, have been charged with identity theft and conspiring against the government, according to federal court records unsealed in Honolulu, reported the Daily Beast. Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison, both 67, allegedly illegally obtained fake identities that they have been using for more than 30 years. Both lived under the names Bobby Edward Fort and Julie Lyn Montague respectively and were arrested on July 28, in Kapolei on the island of Oahu. 

The documents further state that they “have been perpetrating criminal fraud acts ever since." Primrose and Morrison were born in 1955 and they attended high school together in Port Lavaca, Texas, and then went to Stephen F Austin University, according to court records. They married in 1980. There is no indication in court papers why the couple in 1987 assumed the identities of deceased children, who would have been more than a decade younger than them. But an affidavit filed by Special Agent Dennis Thomas of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service noted that the couple lost their home in Nacogdoches, Texas, to foreclosure that year, according to AP News.

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Prosecutors are seeking to have the couple held without bail, which could indicate that the case is about more than just fraudulently obtaining drivers’ licenses, passports and Defense Department credentials. Those documents helped Primrose get secret security clearance with the US Coast Guard and as a defense contractor. But old photos show the couple wearing uniforms of the KGB, the former Russian spy agency, Assistant US Attorney Thomas Muehleck said in court papers. Faded Polaroids of each in uniform were included in the motion to have them held. 

Primrose joined the US Coast Guard in 1994 when he was 39, but using the stolen identity meant his age was listed as 27, making him eligible. He served for 20 years at Barbers Point and eventually became treasurer of the Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers’ Association's Hawaiian Islands chapter. In 2016, when Primrose retired from the Coast Guard after serving as an avionics technician, he took a job with US Company 1, a Department of Defense contractor where he still works, the documents state.

As a result of his service, Primrose has government-issued security clearance which, according to investigators, he has held for more than 20 years. In addition, he has held a "secret clearance for six years" from working at that job, documents state. The documents also allege that Primrose did not flag all of his international travel, as he was required to do while he held the secret clearance.

A “close associate” said Morrison lived in Romania while it was a Soviet bloc country, Muehleck said. Morrison’s attorney said her client never lived in Romania and that she and Primrose had tried on the KGB uniforms as a joke and posed for photos in it. Even if the couple used new identities, attorney Megan Kau said they have lived law-abiding lives for three decades. “She wants everyone to know she’s not a spy,” Kau said. “This has all been blown way out of proportion. It’s government overreaching.” Prosecutors said there is a high risk the couple would flee if freed. They also suggested that Primrose was highly skilled to communicate secretly if released. The couple is also believed to have other aliases, Muehleck said. 

The Coast Guard works closely with the Army and Navy, helps with counterintelligence and serves as the country’s maritime border patrol, said O’Grady, an Army reservist and lieutenant colonel judge advocate. “The Coast Guard has a unique perspective on our vulnerabilities,” he said, including how to infiltrate the country through water ports. Hawaii, a major military center, “is a prime target for a lot of espionage and such,” he said. For one family, whose deceased child’s name was stolen, the news on Wednesday, July 29, came as a shock. John Montague, who lost his daughter Julie in 1968 at 3 weeks of age, was stunned to learn someone had been living under her name for so long. According to APNews, 91 year old Montague said “I still can’t believe it happened”. “The odds are like one-in-a-trillion that they found her and used her name. People stoop to do anything nowadays. Let kids rest in peace.” 

One document alleges that Primrose and Morrison may have established additional identities. Investigators found evidence from the couple's home “in which the greetings in the letters refer to defendants by names other than Bobby, Julie, Walter, or Gwynn." The couple lived in a Honolulu suburb in a modest two-bedroom bungalow beneath palm trees. They owned a neighboring house they rented to military personnel, said Mai Ly Schara, who lived next door. She knew them as Bob and Lynn, with Morrison apparently Julie Lyn Montague’s middle name. Primrose did yard work for Schara for $50 a month, she said. Morrison took in, fed and spayed and neutered cats. She also had several rabbits and dedicated a room to the pets. They kept to themselves, but they were friendly,” Schara said. “They just kind of were, like, a little nerdy.” Schara wasn’t sure what Primrose did for a living, but thought it was military-related. Morrison once worked as a parking attendant at a Waikiki hotel but had been tutoring neighborhood children.