According to court documents first reported by the Daily Beast, 67-year-old Walter Lynn Primrose and his wife, Gwynn Darle Morrison, 67, were recently arrested on a charge of using stolen identities. Court documents show that Primrose worked with the U.S. government, including the Coast Guard, while operating under a false identity.
“It is alleged that Primrose and Morrison agreed and conspired to make false statements in a matter within the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Defense by unlawfully assuming the identities of deceased persons Bobby Edward Fort, and Julie Lyn Montague, respectively,” court documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Hawaii.
A new court filing, also first reported by the Daily Beast, allegedly showed two pictures of Primrose and his wife wearing uniforms associated with the Soviet Union’s KGB. “Federal agents have also seized photographs from the defendants’ residence that depict the defendants apparently some years ago wearing what have been identified as KGB uniforms,” a detention motion filed this week said.
The new report comes as tensions between Russia and the U.S. remain high, as Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine has continued since February. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. has continued to supply weapons and other military aid to Ukraine, prompting widespread criticism from the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to court documents, both Primrose and Morrison attended the same college together and then married in 1980. However, in 1987, the couple allegedly acquired birth certificates in Texas for two individuals who were deceased and unlawfully assumed their identities in the following years. The two also allegedly obtained several other documents that assumed the identities of the deceased individuals, such as driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers.
Primrose then allegedly used the false identity to enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard and served from 1994 to 2016, using the identity of Fort. The court documents states that Primrose then retired from the Coast Guard in 2016 and in the same year he “began working for U.S. Company 1, a Department of Defense (DOD) contractor, where he continues to work currently.”
Primrose continues to hold a government-issued security clearance following his work as a defense contractor.
In a detention memo, prosecutors said that both Primrose and Morrison “pose a serious risk of flight and are eligible for detention.”
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Hawaii for comment.
