- Gwynn Darle Morrison and Walter Glenn Primrose stole the identities of Texas babies who died more than 50 years ago
- Prosecutors produced Polaroids of them in KGB uniforms, raising fears of espionage
- They each face up to 17 years in prison after being found guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Honolulu
A twisted Hawaii couple once feared to be Russian spies have been found guilty of stealing the identities of dead babies to escape debt.
For decades, Gwynn Darle Morrison and Walter Glenn Primrose assumed the identities of deceased Texas toddlers Julie Montague and Bobby Fort.
The couple, in their late 60s, had eight passports between them and alarm bells were already ringing when photos of them posing in KGB uniforms came to light.
During the trial in U.S. District Court in Honolulu, the presiding judge called the couple by their false names.
But at the start of the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Muehleck said the real Bobby Fort was built more than 50 years ago. The baby had a “bad cough” and lived for three months, Muehleck said.
Walter Glenn Primrose (left) and Gwynn Darle Morrison (right) were found guilty of stealing the identities of dead Texas babies to escape debt
Prosecutors initially appeared to suspect the pair might be Russian spies after producing Polaroids of them posing in KGB uniforms
One of the witnesses who testified was Tonda Montague Ferguson, who said she was in eighth grade when her mother gave birth to her sister, Julie Montague, in 1968. But the child had birth defects and died about three weeks later, Ferguson said.
The two babies were buried in Texas cemeteries 15 miles (24 kilometers) apart, Muehleck said.
Jurors deliberated for about two hours before returning their guilty verdicts Monday, according to court records.
The couple had attended the same high school in Texas and were staying with a classmate who told prosecutors that they had considered changing their names to avoid incurring debt, CBS reports.
According to Hawaii Public Radio, Primrose even used his fake identity, which made him 12 years younger, to join the Coast Guard and received a secret security clearance, which then allowed him to get a job as a U.S. defense contractor.
The outlet reported that the couple left Texas in the 1980s and told friends they were entering a witness protection program.
Meanwhile, Primrose claimed to be a government agent who could not be photographed. Court records show they remarried in 1988 under their false identities.
The couple argued in court that their actions had harmed no one.
The couple was arrested at their home in Kapolei, Hawaii, and have since been found guilty of making false statements when applying for and using a passport, conspiracy charges and aggravated identity theft
You now face up to ten years in prison on charges of providing false information when applying for and using a passport.
They face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and two consecutive prison sentences on the aggravated identity theft charge.
The case made headlines following their arrests last year after prosecutors suspected it was more than just identity theft.
They produced Polaroids of the couple wearing jackets that looked like real KGB uniforms.
An invisible ink set, documents containing coded language and military map bases were also uncovered, CBS reports.
The couple’s lawyers said they once wore the same jacket as a joke, and prosecutors later backed away from any Russian espionage plot.