No parent should have to bury their child. And no parent should have to worry that their deceased child’s identity has been stolen. It should be a place any fraudster would not go. But, unfortunately, that is the case for the two pairs of parents in Texas, whose children had died as infants. On July 27, 2022, Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison, both in their late 60’s, were arrested for allegedly living for decades using the identities of Bobby Edward Fort and Julie Lyn Montague, respectively.
Primrose and Morrison, a married couple in Texas, obtained the identities of the deceased infants in 1987. The pair obtained driver’s licenses, state identification cards, and Social Security numbers within six months of obtaining their new identities. The couple remarried in August 1988 under their new names.
In 1994, Primrose joined the US Coast Guard at 39 years of age using Fort’s identity, listed as 27, making him eligible. He served for 20 years at Barbers Point as an avionics technician and eventually became treasurer of the Coast Guard Chief Petty Officers Association’s Hawaiian Islands Chapter. Upon retiring in 2016, he took a job a Department of Defense contractor. As a result of his service, Primrose had government-issued security clearance.
The scheme began to unravel in 2018, when the couple used their forged identities to apply for military healthcare benefits. Upon investigation of their healthcare benefit application, it was discovered that not only was Primrose and Morrison not the deceased identities Fort and Montague, but they are also probably not even Primrose and Morrison. The court documents allege that evidence found shows communication and travel papers tying them to Russian intelligence. The court also claims multiple passports using different names simultaneously. Court dates have not been set, but Primrose and Morrison will be remaining in jail until that date is scheduled.
Today’s “Fraud of the Day” is based on an article posted at CNN on August 2, 2022
Hawaii couple charged with assuming the identities of deceased children in Texas
By Jennifer Henderson and Amanda Musa, CNN
A married couple in Hawaii has been indicted for allegedly living under the identities of dead children from Texas for decades and conspiring against the government, according to unsealed federal court records.
A federal grand jury in Honolulu indicted Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison on conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and false statements in the application and use of a passport.
