HONOLULU –
Bobby Edward Fort was 27 when he enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1994 and retired 22 years later with a classified security clearance that allowed him to find work in Honolulu as a defense contractor.
But in reality, Bobby Fort was long dead. He was only 3 months old when he choked to death in a Texas hospital in 1967.
Bobby Fort, who joined the Coast Guard, had stolen the dead baby’s identity 35 years earlier. A fake birth certificate helped him obtain five passports, driver’s licenses and Ministry of Defense credentials.
The scam was revealed last week. On Thursday, the man, according to authorities, identified himself as Fort before a judge who asked him to give his name: “Walter Glenn Primrose,” the 66-year-old said.
Primrose was ordered held without bail by a U.S. District Court judge after a prosecutor provided new details about how he and his wife lived for decades with the stolen identities of two dead Texas babies.
While the hearing further deepened the mystery of why the couple broke up with their pasts, it provided little clarity on whether the case against them went beyond stolen identities, although a prosecutor suggested there may be ties abroad.
“We think the defendant is obviously quite adept at impersonating other people, obtaining government identification, deceiving, avoiding detection,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Myers said. “He might – we’re not saying for sure – but he might have some disturbing foreign connections. And if there is, he might be able to use them to attract help.”
A search of the couple’s home in Hawaii turned up faded Polaroids of the two wearing jackets that looked like authentic Russian KGB uniforms, Myers said. An expert determined that the photos were taken in the 1980s.
The search also yielded an invisible ink set, coded language documents and maps showing military bases, Myers said.
When the pair were left in a room together, they were recorded saying “things consistent with espionage,” Myers said.
Federal defender Craig Jerome said the government had provided only “speculation and innuendo” that the pair were involved in something more criminal than “purely non-violent white-collar crime.”
“If it wasn’t for the speculation that the government injected into this proceeding without providing any real evidence … he certainly would have been released,” Jerome said.
Prosecutors feared Primrose would flee if released. They noted in court documents that he was an avionics electrician in the Coast Guard and was highly qualified to communicate covertly if released.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Rome Trader said he based his detention order on the alleged fraud “in multiple instances spanning a long period of time.”
Morrison faces a bail hearing on Tuesday.
Her lawyer said the couple – regardless of the names they used – lived law-abiding lives. Attorney Megan Kaw told The Associated Press that the couple posed for photos in the alleged KGB jacket for fun.
“She wants everyone to know she’s not a spy,” Kaw said. “It’s all overblown. The government is overreacting.”
The couple’s story began in Texas, where Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison attended high school and college together and married in 1980, according to court documents.
In the early 1980s, they told their family they were entering the witness protection program before suddenly leaving their house and leaving Texas, Myers said. They handed over the keys to their Nacogdoches home and told family members to take whatever they wanted. The house was later foreclosed on.
When they reappeared, they had new names and different explanations for what had happened.
In 1987, Primrose assumed the identity of Fort, an infant who died in 1967 in Burnet, Texas. Morrison assumed the identity of Julie Lynn Montague, who died in 1968 at the same hospital as Fort. Primrose and Morrison, both born in 1955, were more than a decade older than the dates of birth on their new IDs.
“The defendant and his wife reportedly told other associates that they needed to change their names for legal and financial reasons,” Myers said. “And that henceforth they may be associated with their new names, Fort and Montague.”
At one point, Primrose told someone she was a government agent and couldn’t share photos of herself.
The couple remarried under their assumed names in 1988, according to court records.
Primrose has a long-standing interest in espionage, Myers said. His wife was anti-government and anti-war and, according to an associate, lived in Romania when it was part of the communist bloc.
Kau denied that Morrison had ever lived in Romania.
The couple, who were arrested Friday at their home in Kapolei, are charged with conspiracy to commit a crime against the United States, making a false statement on a passport application and aggravated identity theft. They could face up to 17 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
At their house, investigators found correspondence in which an associate believed Primrose had joined the CIA or become a terrorist, Myers said.
Morrison used her real name to open a mailbox where she told the family to contact her. When her father died, her family was unable to contact her and called in local law enforcement to search for her.
“Even the family of the accused can’t find him when they need to,” Myers said.
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Mellie reported from Los Angeles
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