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

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the conviction of Walter Glenn Primrose, who lived under the identity of a deceased infant, Bobby Edward Fort, for over three decades before being convicted in 2023 of identity theft, passport fraud and conspiracy. Primrose argued that decades of use had effectively transferred the child's identity to him, borrowing the property-law concept of adverse possession.

The panel rejected that theory outright, writing that no length of use lets a person adversely possess another's identity, since identity is inseparable from personhood. Primrose was also convicted alongside his wife, who lived under a separate assumed name, and both received 34-month sentences.

The case initially drew scrutiny as a possible Russian espionage matter after investigators found Soviet-era uniforms and coded documents in the couple's home, though prosecutors dropped that angle before trial, and the sentencing judge separately rejected the couple's request to legally change their names to the identities they'd used for 30 years.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.