HONOLULU– A US protection contractor and his spouse who lived for many years as two deceased Texan youngsters have been charged with impersonation and conspiracy in opposition to the federal government, in line with unsealed federal courtroom data in Honolulu .
Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison, each of their 60s, who’re believed to have lived for many years as Bobby Edward Fort and Julie Lyn Montague respectively, have been arrested in Kapolei on the island of Oahu on Friday.
Prosecutors are searching for to carry the couple with out bail, which might point out the case is about greater than fraudulently acquiring driver’s licenses, passports and Division of Protection credentials.
These paperwork helped Primrose acquire a secret safety clearance from the US Coast Guard and as a protection contractor and outdated images present the couple sporting uniforms from the KGB, Russia’s former spy company, has mentioned Assistant U.S. Legal professional Thomas Muehleck in courtroom paperwork. Light Polaroids of everybody in uniform have been included within the movement to carry them up.
A “shut affiliate” mentioned Morrison lived in Romania regardless of it being a Soviet bloc nation, Muehleck mentioned.
Morrison’s lawyer mentioned his consumer had by no means lived in Romania and that she and Primrose tried on the identical jacket as a joke and posed for photos. Though the couple used new identities, lawyer Megan Kau informed The Related Press, they lived law-abiding lives for 3 many years.
“She needs everybody to know she’s not a spy,” Kau mentioned. “All of this has been grossly disproportionate. It’s the authorities that goes too far. »
Prosecutors mentioned there was a excessive danger the couple would flee if launched. Additionally they steered that Primrose, who was an avionics electrical technician within the Coast Guard, was extremely certified to speak covertly if launched.
The couple are additionally believed to produce other aliases, Muehleck mentioned.
A lawyer for Primrose declined to remark. A bail listening to was scheduled for Thursday in U.S. District Courtroom.
The key clearance Primrose had offers entry to info “extraordinarily priceless to our enemies,” mentioned Kevin O’Grady, a Honolulu protection lawyer not concerned within the case.
The Coast Guard works carefully with the Military and Navy, assists in counterintelligence and serves because the nation’s maritime border patrol, mentioned O’Grady, an Military reservist and Lt. Col. Choose Advocate.
“The Coast Guard has a novel perspective on our vulnerabilities,” he mentioned, together with the best way to infiltrate the nation by means of waterports. Hawaii, a serious army hub, “is a major goal for lots of espionage and the like,” he mentioned.
For a household whose deceased kid’s title was stolen, Wednesday’s information got here as a shock.
John Montague, who misplaced his daughter Julie in 1968 on the age of three weeks, was surprised to study somebody had been dwelling underneath his title for thus lengthy.
“I nonetheless cannot imagine this occurred,” Montague, 91, informed AP. “There is a one in a trillion probability they’re going to discover her and use her title. Persons are stooping for something as of late. Let the youngsters relaxation in peace.”
Primrose and Morrison have been born in 1955 and attended highschool collectively in Port Lavaca, Texas, then went to Stephen F. Austin College, courtroom data present. They married in 1980.
Nothing within the courtroom paperwork signifies why the couple in 1987 assumed the identities of deceased youngsters who would have been greater than a decade youthful than them. However an affidavit filed by Particular Agent Dennis Thomas of the State Division’s Diplomatic Safety Service famous that the couple misplaced their house in Nacogdoches, Texas to a foreclosures that yr.
They remarried underneath their assumed names in 1988, Thomas mentioned.
Courtroom data present no details about what occurred from the time they took on their new identities till 1994, when Primrose, then about 39, enlisted within the Coast Guard as a than Fort, who would have been round 27 years outdated.
If there was an apparent age distinction between what Primrose seemed like and the start certificates he introduced, “it is a depressing failure,” O’Grady mentioned.
“It is one thing if they will determine it out now, they need to have caught it then,” he mentioned.
Montague mentioned “any person’s not doing their job”.
Primrose and Morrison utilized for and obtained a number of passports underneath their assumed names, in line with courtroom data. However in 1999, Primrose additionally utilized for and obtained a passport in his authorized title whereas additionally holding a passport in Fort’s title.
Primrose was in service till 2016, when he started working for an unnamed protection contractor at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Level.
“Whereas holding this secret clearance with the US Coast Guard, defendant Primrose was required to report any international journey,” prosecutors wrote. “The investigation revealed that the defendant Primrose didn’t report a number of journeys to Canada whereas he did report different journeys overseas.”
The couple lived in a suburb of Honolulu in a modest two-bedroom bungalow underneath palm bushes. They owned a home close by which they rented to army personnel, mentioned Mai Ly Schara, who lived subsequent door.
She knew them as Bob and Lynn, with Morrison apparently being Julie Lyn Montague’s center title.
Primrose did yard work for Schara for $50 a month, she mentioned. Morrison collected, fed and sterilized cats. She additionally owned a number of rabbits and had a room devoted to pets.
“They saved to themselves, however they have been pleasant,” Schara mentioned. “They have been just a bit corny.”
Schara wasn’t certain what Primrose did for a dwelling, however thought it needed to do with the army. Morrison as soon as labored as a parking attendant at a Waikiki lodge, however tutored neighborhood youngsters.
The FBI created a scene within the quiet neighborhood as they searched the home and took images.
“It was simply stunning, like, oh my God,” Schara mentioned. “It was fairly loopy.”
The State Division declined to touch upon the arrests.
The couple are charged with conspiracy to commit an offense in opposition to america, false assertion in a passport software and aggravated impersonation.
Fort, who lived lower than three months, died in October 1967 in the identical hospital the place Julie Montague died about three months later in January 1968. They’re buried 14 miles aside.
When Tonda Ferguson realized from her father that Morrison had used her late sister’s start certificates to create an alias, she considered her mom, who died in 2003, and what number of years had handed.
“For all of the moms who reside and must know this has occurred to their infants, I can not even start to think about,” Ferguson mentioned. “I am glad my mother is with the Lord. It could be so traumatic for her.
Ferguson was in eighth grade when his sister died. She was by no means in a position to see her little sister or maintain her in her arms. She was buried in Burnet, Texas, the small city the place they lived on the time outdoors of Austin.
“She got here from a spot of affection, deep love,” Ferguson mentioned. “For somebody who turns round to steal their id for evil, it is robust. It hurts. … I hope they rot.
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Melley reported from Los Angeles. Caleb Jones in Kapolei, Hawaii, and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
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