Ninth Circuit affirms conviction of man who stole identity of dead child

Walter Glenn Primrose, who had been living as Bobby Edward Fort for over 30 years, was convicted of identity theft, passport fraud and conspiracy against the United States in October 2023.(CN) — A man who stole the identity of a dead infant and lived under the name for over three decades was properly convicted, a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed Tuesday.The three-judge panel unanimously rejected the premise that Walter Glenn Primrose, who had been living as Bobby Edward Fort since 1987, could not be found guilty of making false statements or identity theft because he had actually become Fort.“One cannot obtain the legal right to another person’s identity simply by using it for a long time,” U.S. Circuit Judge Danielle J. Forrest, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote for the panel.Primrose was convicted in October 2023 for identity theft, passport fraud and conspiracy against the United States alongside his wife, Gwynne Darle Morrison, who used the name Julie Lyn Montague. Primrose and Morrison were each sentenced to 34 months for various identity theft and conspiracy charges.Throughout his trial and appeal, Primrose drew upon the property law concept of adverse possession — which allows non-owners to gain ownership of property after occupying it for a certain length of time. Primrose argued that he had assumed Fort’s identity for so long that it had become his actual identity.“There is no basis in law or reason for us to conclude that one may adversely possess the identity of another person,” Forrest wrote in the 14-page opinion. “A person’s identity is a part of, not separate from, their personhood. And no matter how long one uses another person’s name, they simply do not become the other person.”Addressing Primrose’s conviction for conspiracy to make a false statement to the Department of Defense and aggravated identity theft, Forrest said a rational juror could find sufficient evidence Primrose knew his statements on an application for a Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reports System identification card under the Fort name were false.“The DEERS identification application asked for Primrose’s name and date of birth, and he answered, ‘Fort, Bobby E.,’ and ‘1967.’ He certified on that application that the information he provided was ‘true and accurate.’ But this information was unquestionably false,” she wrote.The panel also rejected Primrose’s argument that he couldn’t have committed passport fraud under similar logic.The panel was rounded out by U.S. Circuit Judges Jay S. Bybee, a George Bush appointee, and Ryan D. Nelson, a Donald Trump appointee.Representatives for the Department of Justice and Primrose did not immediately respond to a request for comment.During the pair’s arrest and leading up to the trial, Primrose and Morrison had been reported as possible Russian spies after a raid on their West Oahu home turned up photographs of the couple in what appeared to be authentic KGB uniforms, along with military maps and coded documents. However, prosecutors ended up discarding the spy angle during trial.The duo had both motioned for name changes prior to sentencing, which were denied by U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi, who nonetheless acknowledged that the couple still consider Fort and Montague to be their “true” names.In deciding the sentences, Kobayashi, a Barack Obama appointee, noted that the couple had no prior criminal convictions and had financial and educational successes living under their assumed identities, but she echoed the government’s concerns about the continued use of the name and called out their lack of remorse.“I understand that you feel that’s who you are in the core your being,” Kobayashi told Primrose. “No matter how sincere you believe, that has no place in this sentencing.”A criminal complaint from 2022 details the probe into Primrose and Morrison’s identities. Records from Texas indicate that the couple attended high school and college together. They were married as Primrose and Morrison in 1980 and then remarried as Fort and Montague eight years later.An investigation by the U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service indicated that the pair had been living under their assumed names for over 30 years. The infants whose identities were stolen by the pair would have been a full decade younger than true ages of the couple. The couple then applied for Social Security numbers, driver’s licenses and passports under the new names.Primrose also used the name to enlist in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1994, where he was later able to gain security clearance. Since his retirement from the Coast Guard in 2016 and up to his arrest, Primrose was employed with a Department of Defense contractor.Categories / Courts, CriminalSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads