According to the reports, the real names of the couple are Walter Glenn Primose, 66, and Gwynn Darle Morrison, 54. Government prosecutors allege that, in the late 1980s, the couple hurriedly left their home in the state of Texas, telling family members that they were entering the US Federal Witness Protection Program. They are also said to have given some family members permission to take whatever they wanted from their home, before it was foreclosed.

The government claims that the couple then assumed the identities of two infants, Bobby Edward Fort and Julie Lyn Montague, who had died in Texas in 1967 and 1968 respectively. They then used these infants’ birth certificates to obtain social security cards, drivers’ licenses, and even US passports. In 1994, while living in Hawaii under his assumed name, Primrose enlisted in the US Coast Guard, which is the maritime security and law enforcement service branch of the US military. He served there for over 20 years as an avionic electrical technician with a secret level clearance. Following his retirement in 2016, Primrose is said to have worked as a private contractor for the US Department of Defense until his arrest on July 22 of this year.

Now US government prosecutors claim that federal agents found 30-year-old photographs of Primrose and Morrison dressed in uniforms of the KGB, the Soviet Union’s intelligence agency. There are also unconfirmed reports that Primrose lived in Romania during the Cold War. He maintained passports under both of his names, and used them to travel abroad. He reported some of his foreign trips to his employer, but not all, such as for example several trips to Canada, according to court documents. Government prosecutors further claim that invisible ink instruments, coded documents and maps of US military facilities were found in the couple’s home in the town of Kapolei.

Both Primrose and Morrison have denied they are foreign spies, saying they are American-born. They also claim that the photos of them in KGB uniform were part of a prank they played with the help of a friend. But the court denied them bail, despite the fact that neither of them has a criminal record. They have been charged with identity theft, lying on their passport applications and conspiring to commit crimes against the US. It is likely that espionage charges will follow in the coming weeks.