A U.S. defense contractor and his wife who lived for many years underneath the identities of two dead Texas children have been charged with identification theft and conspiring in opposition to the federal government, in accordance with federal court docket data unsealed in Honolulu.
Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison, each in their 60s, who allegedly lived for many years underneath the names Bobby Edward Fort and Julie Lyn Montague, respectively, were arrested Friday in Kapolei on the island of Oahu.
Prosecutors are searching for to have the couple held with out bail, which may point out the case is about greater than fraudulently acquiring drivers’ licenses, passports and Defense Department credentials. According to a criminal complaint obtained by Hawaii News Now, Primrose was allegedly issued a complete of 5 U.S. passports underneath the identification of Bobby Fort. Morrison was issued a complete of three U.S. passports underneath the title of Julie Montague, the criticism says.
Those paperwork helped Primrose get secret safety clearance with the U.S. Coast Guard and as a defense contractor and previous images present the couple carrying uniforms of the KGB, the previous Russian spy company, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Muehleck stated in court docket papers. Faded Polaroids of every in uniform were included in the movement to have them held.
/ AP
A “close associate” stated Morrison lived in Romania whereas it was a Soviet bloc nation, Muehleck stated.
Morrison’s legal professional stated her shopper by no means lived in Romania and that she and Primrose tried the identical jacket on as a joke and posed for images in it. Even if the couple used new identities, legal professional Megan Kau instructed The Associated Press, they’ve lived law-abiding lives for 3 many years.
“She wants everyone to know she’s not a spy,” Kau stated. “This has all been blown way out of proportion. It’s government overreaching.”
“She has nothing to do with Russia,” Kau told Hawaii News Now.
Prosecutors stated there’s a excessive threat the couple would flee if freed. They additionally steered that Primrose, who was an avionics electrical technician in the Coast Guard, was extremely expert to speak secretly if launched.
The couple can be believed to produce other aliases, Muehleck stated.
A lawyer for Primrose declined remark. A bail listening to was scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Court.
The secret clearance Primrose had gives entry to information that’s “enormously valuable to our enemies,” stated Kevin O’Grady, a Honolulu defense legal professional not concerned in the case.
The Coast Guard works intently with the Army and Navy, helps with counterintelligence and serves because the nation’s maritime border patrol, stated O’Grady, an Army reservist and lieutenant colonel decide advocate.
“The Coast Guard has a unique perspective on our vulnerabilities,” he stated, together with easy methods to infiltrate the nation by means of water ports. Hawaii, a significant navy middle, “is a prime target for a lot of espionage and such,” he stated.
O’Grady told Hawaii News Now that Primrose’s safety clearance may have offered the Russians with precious information.
“They engage in counter terrorism and counter drug operations and things like that,” he stated.
For one household whose deceased kid’s title was stolen, the news Wednesday got here as a shock.
John Montague, who misplaced his daughter Julie in 1968 at 3 weeks of age, was surprised to be taught somebody had been dwelling underneath her title for therefore lengthy.
“I still can’t believe it happened,” Montague, 91, instructed AP. “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.”
Primrose and Morrison were born in 1955 and they attended highschool collectively in Port Lavaca, Texas, and then went to Stephen F. Austin University, in accordance with court docket data. They married in 1980.
There isn’t any indication in court docket papers why the couple in 1987 assumed the identities of deceased children who would have been greater than a decade youthful than them. But an affidavit filed by Special Agent Dennis Thomas of the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service famous that the couple misplaced their residence in Nacogdoches, Texas, to foreclosures that 12 months.
They remarried underneath their assumed names in 1988, Thomas stated.
Court data do not present any information about what occurred from the time they assumed their new identities till 1994, when Primrose, then about 39, enlisted in the Coast Guard as Fort, who would have been about 27.
If there was an apparent age discrepancy between what Primrose seemed like and the start certificates he introduced, “that’s an abject failure,” O’Grady stated.
“That’s something if they can figure it out now, they should have caught it then,” he stated.
Montague stated that “somebody’s not doing their jobs.”
Primrose was in the service till 2016, when he started work for an unnamed defense contractor on the U.S. Coast Guard Air station at Barbers Point.
“While he held that secret clearance with the U.S. Coast Guard, defendant Primrose was required to report any foreign travel,” prosecutors wrote. “Investigation has revealed that defendant Primrose did not report several trips to Canada while he did report other foreign travel.”
The couple lived in a Honolulu suburb in a modest two-bedroom bungalow beneath palm timber. They owned a neighboring home they rented to navy personnel, stated Mai Ly Schara, who lived subsequent door.
She knew them as Bob and Lynn, with Morrison apparently Julie Lyn Montague’s center title.
Primrose did yard work for Schara for $50 a month, she stated. Morrison took in, fed and spayed and neutered cats. She additionally had a number of rabbits and devoted a room to the pets.
“They kept to themselves, but they were friendly,” Schara stated. “They just kind of were, like, a little nerdy.”
Schara wasn’t positive what Primrose did for a dwelling, however thought it was navy associated. Morrison as soon as labored as a parking attendant at a Waikiki resort however had been tutoring neighborhood children.
The FBI created a scene in the quiet neighborhood after they searched the home and took images.
“It was just shocking, like, oh my gosh,” Schara stated. “It was pretty crazy.”
Other neighbors instructed Hawaii News Now the couple stored a low profile. Joshua Guieb-Pangan stated they were pleasant.
“When we would drive by, they’d always give us a wave,” Pangan instructed the station.
The State Department declined to touch upon the arrests.
The couple is charged with conspiracy to commit an offense in opposition to the U.S., false assertion in passport software and aggravated identification theft.
Fort, who lived fewer than three months, died in October 1967 on the identical hospital the place Julie Montague handed away about three months later in January 1968. They are buried 14 miles (23 kilometers) aside.
When Tonda Ferguson realized from her father that Morrison had used her late sister’s start certificates to create an alias, she thought of her mom, who died in 2003, and what number of years had passed by.
“For all the mothers who are living and have to know this happened to their babies, I can’t even begin to imagine,” Ferguson stated. “I’m glad my mama’s with the Lord. This would be so traumatic for her.”
Ferguson was in eighth grade when her sister died. She by no means bought to see her little sister or maintain her. She was buried in Burnet, Texas, the small city the place they lived on the time outdoors of Austin.
“She came from a place of love, deep love,” Ferguson stated. “For someone to turn around to steal her identity for evil, it’s tough. It’s hurtful. … I hope they rot.”
story by The Texas Tribune Source link
