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 conspiracy against the government, according to unsealed federal court records in Honolulu. Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison, both in their 60s, who reportedly lived for decades under the names Bobby Edward Fort and Julie Lyn Montague, respectively, were arrested Friday in Kapolei on the island of Oahu. Prosecutors are seeking to hold the pair without bail, which could indicate the case involves more than fraudulently obtaining driver’s licenses, passports and Defense Department credentials. Those documents helped Primrose get a secret security clearance with the U.S. Coast Guard and as a defense contractor, and old photos show the pair wearing KGB uniforms, the former Russian spy agency said, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Muehleck said in court documents. Faded Polaroids of each in uniform were included in the drive for safekeeping. A “close associate” said Morrison lived in Romania while it was a Soviet bloc country, Muehleck said. Morrison’s lawyer said her client had never lived in Romania and that she and Primrose tried on the same jacket as a joke and posed for photos in it. Even though the couple used new identities, attorney Megan Kaw told The Associated Press, they have lived law-abiding lives for three decades. “He wants everyone to know he’s not a spy,” Kau said. “This is all blown way out of proportion. It’s government overreach.” Prosecutors said there was a high risk the pair would flee if released. They also suggested that Primrose, who was an avionics technician in the Coast Guard, was very capable of communicating covertly if released. The couple is also believed to have other aliases, Muehleck said. A lawyer for Primrose declined to comment. A bail hearing was scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court. Primrose’s secret clearance provides access to information that is “extremely valuable to our enemies,” said Kevin O’Grady, a Honolulu defense attorney not involved in the case. The Coast Guard works closely with the Army and Navy, helps with counterintelligence and serves as a patrol on the nation’s maritime borders, 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 a family whose dead child’s name was stolen, the news Wednesday came as a shock. John Montague, who lost his daughter Julie in 1968 at the age of 3 weeks, was amazed to learn that someone had lived with her name for so long. “I still can’t believe it happened,” Montague, 91, told the AP. “The odds are about one in a trillion that they found her and used her name. People will bend over backwards to do anything these days. Let the children rest in peace.” Primrose and Morrison were born in 1955 and attended high school together in Port Lavaca, Texas, then attended Stephen F. Austin University, according to court records. They married in 1980. There is no indication in court documents why the couple in 1987 obtained the identities of dead 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. They remarried under their assumed names in 1988, Thomas said. Court records provide no information on what happened from the time they got their new identities until 1994, when Primrose, about 39, enlisted in the Coast Guard as Fort, who would have been about 27. If there was an apparent age discrepancy between Primrose’s appearance and the birth certificate he presented, “that’s a miserable failure,” O’Grady said. “That’s something if they can figure it out now, they should have caught it then,” he said. Montague said “somebody’s not doing their job.” Primrose and Morrison applied for and received multiple passports in their assumed names, according to court records. But in 1999 Primrose also applied for and was issued a passport under his legal name, while also holding a passport in Fort’s name. Primrose was in the service until 2016, when he began working for an unnamed defense contractor at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station at Barber Point. “While holding this secret clearance with the US Coast Guard, defendant Primrose was required to report any foreign travel,” prosecutors wrote. “The investigation revealed that defendant Primrose underreported multiple trips to Canada while reporting other trips abroad.” The couple lived in a suburb of Honolulu in a simple two-bedroom bungalow under palm trees. They had a house next door that they rented to military personnel, said Mai Ly Schara, who lived next door. He knew them as Bob and Lynn, Morrison apparently being Julie Lynn Montague’s middle name. Primrose did yard work for Schara for $50 a month, she said. Morrison took in, fed, spayed and neutered cats. He also had several rabbits and dedicated a room to pets. “They were left alone, but they were friendly,” Sarah said. “They were just a little nerdy.” Schara wasn’t sure what Primrose did for a living, but she thought she was a military relation. Morrison once worked as a valet at a Waikiki hotel, but tutored neighborhood kids. The FBI set up a scene in the quiet neighborhood when they searched the house and took pictures. “It was just shocking, like, oh my god,” Schara said. “It was pretty crazy.” The State Department declined to comment on the arrests. The pair are charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the US, making a false statement on a passport application and aggravated identity theft. Fort, who lived less than three months, died in October 1967 in the same hospital where Julie Montague died about three months later in January 1968. They are buried 14 miles (23 km) apart. When Tonda Ferguson learned from her father that Morrison had used her sister’s birth certificate to create an alias, she thought of her mother, who died in 2003, and how many years had passed. “For all the mothers who are alive and have to know that this happened to their babies, I can’t even imagine,” Ferguson said. “I’m glad my mom is with the Lord. This would have been so traumatic for her.” Ferguson was in eighth grade when her sister died. She never got to see her little sister or hold her. He was buried in Burnet, Texas, the small town where they lived at the time outside of Austin. “It came from a place of love, deep love,” Ferguson said. “For someone to turn around and steal her identity for evil, it’s hard. It’s hurtful … I hope they rot.” —— Melley reported from Los Angeles. Caleb Jones in Kapolei, Hawaii, and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report
