A Hawaii couple accused by federal authorities of stealing the identities of dead babies decades ago may have past ties to Russia’s former spy agency, court documents indicate.
US defense contractor Walter Primrose and his wife Gwynn Morrison are accused of living under the names of babies who were each less than a year old when they died, according to a court document unsealed Friday and published online by the Daily Beast. Their fake names were for babies Bobby Edward Fort and Julie Lyn Montague.
Primrose, who also served in the US Coast Guard for decades, used the fake identity to help him obtain documents such as driver’s licenses, passports and Department of Defense credentials, leading to a clearance of secret security with the army and then as defense. contractor
The couple, in their 60s, face charges so far of aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit a crime against the US and making a false statement on a passport application after they were arrested on an island on Friday hawaiian
Federal prosecutors want the couple held without bail with Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Muehleck saying the old Polaroid photos show them in KGB uniforms.
Polaroid photos of the couple in KGB uniforms were shared in court. United States District Court District of Hawaii via AP
Muehleck also said a “close associate” of Morrison said he lived in Romania when it was a Soviet bloc country.
Prosecutors argued that there is a high risk that the husband and wife will flee if they are not kept behind bars before trial, noting that Primrose is highly skilled at communicating secretly if he is released. The couple also had other possible aliases, the feds said.
Primrose and Morrison were born in 1955 and attended high school and then college together in Texas, court records show, before marrying in 1980.
Court records do not say why the couple assumed the identities of the dead children in 1987, but a State Department special agent said in an affidavit that the couple lost their Texas home to foreclosure that year.
Court records do not explain why the couple assumed the identities of the children who died in 1987. U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii via AP
Primrose enlisted in the Coast Guard when he was 39, although since he did so under the identity of Bobby Fort, he was only 27 at the time.
He served as an avionics electrical technician until his retirement in 2016 when he worked for a defense contractor at a Coast Guard air station in Honolulu.
Lawyers for the couple declined to comment.
The father of Julie Lyn Montague, who died when she was six weeks old in 1968, was shocked that his daughter’s name was used in the criminal scheme.
“I still can’t believe it happened,” John Montague, 91, told The Associated Press. “The odds are like one in a billion that they found her and used her name. People stoop to do anything these days. May the children rest in peace.”
With post cables