KGB Photo Deepens Mystery of U.S. Coast Guard Vet and Wife Who Stole Dead Babies’ Identities, Feds Say

A Texas man spent 20 years in the U.S. Coast Guard using a dead child’s stolen identity, obtaining secret-level security clearance and making it difficult for agents to investigators, who later discovered information that the man and his wife – who also lived under a false name – may have had ties to Russian intelligence, According to court records reviewed by The Daily Beast.

Walter Lynn Primrose, 67, and Gwynn Darle Morrison, also 67, are accused of carrying out a mysterious scheme in which they masquerade as characters who have been deceived for decades. Primrose, who retired from the Coast Guard as an avionics technician in 2016, then went on to work as a cleared defense contractor at Air Station’s Air Station. US Coast Guard in Hawaii.

He continues to hold a government-issued security certificate, which investigators say he has had for more than two decades. Last year, a Russian spy ship was found lurking off the coast of Hawaii in a few days. In 2021, a Russian ship is being tracked near Hawaiian watersIn one incident, one expert said it was a repeat of Cold War-era operations.

United States District Court for the District of Hawaii

Primrose, who was born in Texas, and Morrison, who was born in Virginia, both attended the same high school in Port Lavaca, Texas, then attended the same college in Nacogdoches, graduating in 1979, filed an unsealed complaint Friday in Honolulu federal court and was brought first by The Daily Beast. They married in August 1980 and together bought a house the following year.

In 1987, investigators allege, Primrose and Morrison “both obtained Texas birth certificate records for deceased US-born children, which they used to falsify the identity of ‘” Bobby Edward Fort’ and ‘Julie Lyn Montague’ illegally.” Both “have engaged in criminal fraud since then,” according to the complaint.

Fort was born in Dallas in July 1967, and died that October of asphyxiation, according to the complaint. Montague was born in Burnet, Texas, in 1968 and also died before her first birthday, the complaint reads. The two children were buried in the cemetery 14 miles apart.

The pair allegedly obtained driver’s licenses and state identification cards under their new false identities, along with new Social Security numbers Fort and Montague.

Within six months, Primrose and Morrison “successfully identified” Fort and Montague, the lawsuit states.

“Furthermore, records obtained by your mistress reveal that Primrose and Morrison were remarried on August 8, 1988 under their respective assumed identities…in Austin, TX,” it said. .

In 1994, at the age of 39, Primrose joined the Coast Guard – eight years older than the maximum enlistment age. But as Bobby Fort, he’s only 27 years old.

For the next two decades, Primrose acted as a Fort, stationed at Barbers Point, and became Treasurer of the Hawaiian Islands chapter of the Petty Coast Guard Chiefs Association.

The 200 enlisted officers and staff at Barbers Point “maintain annual vigilance 24 hours a day… supporting aviation missions in the areas of Search and Rescue, Marine Environmental Protection, Aviation Law Enforcement and Maritime Support,” coast guard said. “From 1979 up to now, the unit has received two commendations for the unit and four certificates of merit for its excellent example. To complete the assigned tasks, the air station uses four Aerospatiale HH-65A ‘Dolphin’ short-range recovery helicopters and four Lockheed HC-130H ‘Hercules’ long-range search engines. “

Primrose and Morrison settled into a new life together, getting married in Kapolei, on the island of Oahu.

When his relationship with the Coast Guard ended, Primrose – still feigning success at Fort – landed a job with an unnamed defense contractor, “where he continues to work now, ” the complaint states.

Between 1996 and 2016, Primrose applied for and received at least five US passports bearing the Fort name, according to investigators. In 1999, Primrose also got a passport bearing her own name, the feds said.

Morrison, for her part, has at least three US passports bearing the Montague name, but never one of her own, the lawsuit alleges.

The scheme apparently began to unravel in 2018, when the couple applied for military health care benefits at Fort and Montague, according to the lawsuit.

In a memorandum filed on MondayFederal prosecutors say Primrose and Morrison are too dangerous to be released — even if they’re not 100% sure why.

They believe the couple established false identities not only in Fort and Montague, saying federal agents seized correspondence found at their home “in which the greetings in the letter refer to defendants by names other than Bobby, Julie, Walter, or Gwynn,” the memo reads, adding that a “close associate” of Morrison had told investigators she had lived in Romania for a period of time under the Soviet Union.

Primrose, as a Coast Guard avionics technician, “has become highly skilled in electronics and can surreptitiously communicate with others if released from custody.” prior to processing,” the memo said.

And, perhaps most chilling: “Federal agents have also obtained photographs from the defendants’ residences, including images of the defendants wearing what have been identified as KGB uniforms from years ago. years”.

Jan Neumann, a former FSB counterintelligence officer who defected to the US in 2008, told The Daily Beast that successfully identifying another person takes “a special skill”.

“What inspired them to do so?” Neumann asked. “What is the trigger? Who taught them how to do it right? And why?”

In 1987, when Primrose and Morrison were accused of coming up with a strange plan, “no computers, no Google, nothing,” Neumann continued. “The year 1987 compared to now is like the Stone Age. To develop legends, to create legends, it was a special skill. “

Identity theft in the military often goes the other way — with service member families are almost twice as likely to have their personal data stolen than those in the civilian sector.

The United States Attorney’s office in Hawaii did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment, nor did Megan Kau, the attorney identified in court filings as Morrison’s attorney. In an email, Salina Kanai, the court-appointed attorney representing Primrose, declined to comment. Primrose and Morrison are being held without bond, and are expected to appear in court on Thursday.

Prosecutors said in their detention memo that the couple’s home could not be used as collateral because both had “collateralized their Kapolei property under the false identities of them, thus committing bank fraud”.

Primrose and Morrison are both accused of conspiring to commit crimes against the United States; falsifying passport applications; and exacerbate identity theft. If convicted on all three counts, the couple each face a maximum sentence of 22 years in prison.