(USNewsBreak.com) – Identity theft is a serious crime that can cause a lot of damage to one’s credit and reputation. It’s also much easier to carry out than one might think. While there are certain safeguards in place to prevent much damage these days, that wasn’t always the case. A couple accused of stealing the identities of deceased infants decades ago are now facing years in prison.
In 2022, Bobby Fort and Julie Montague were arrested for identity theft after it came to light that the two weren’t who they said they were. The pair, revealed to be Walter Glenn Primrose and Gwynn Darle Morrison, high school sweethearts who had married, had changed their names decades ago, reportedly to get out from under significant amounts of personal debt. In doing so, they assumed the identities of infants who had passed away years prior and would have been more than a decade younger than them. The couple later married under these names as well.
A jury has convicted a Hawaii couple of conspiracy, passport fraud and identity theft for stealing identities and living for decades under the names of dead babies. https://t.co/j0LR3u3sJh
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 1, 2023
A fraud program manager with the US National Passport Center noticed that there was something off with Fort’s birth date, so they dug deeper and discovered Fort’s death certificate. From there, suspicion fell on Morrison, who the manager also discovered was using the identity of a deceased infant. The real Bobby Fort died at three months old, and the real Julie Montague died at three weeks.
Primrose used the assumed name to get a job with the Coast Guard, and then later, after he retired, he used the security clearance he gained to work as a defense contractor. Both were charged in 2022 with making false statements in passport applications, conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft.
On Monday, October 30, both were found guilty of the charges levied against them. Their sentencing is scheduled for March, and they face up to 17 years in prison.
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