Man convicted in decadeslong identity theft that led to his victim being jailed

William Woods was homeless and living in Los Angeles when he heard someone was running debt under his name.

But when he reported his concerns to a bank branch manager, he spent nearly two years in prison, himself charged with identity theft. While he continued to insist he was Woods in a desperate attempt to clear his name, he was even sent to a psychiatric hospital and drugged, court records show.

Finally, this week, a former IT worker at a top Iowa hospital who had assumed Woods’ identity for decades pleaded guilty to two federal charges.

That man, 58-year-old Matthew David Keirans, who lived in Hartland, Wisconsin, faces up to 32 years in prison for making false statements to an institution insured by the National Credit Union Administration and aggravated identity theft.

No sentencing date has yet been set in the federal case, but Keirans spent 20 days in jail last year on related state charges in Iowa.

Meanwhile, a hearing is scheduled next week in California to overturn Woods’ conviction, said Venusse Dunn, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Court records show the two men first met when they both worked at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the late 1980s.

There are no records of Keiran using his own name or Social Security number after 1988, and he began publicly adopting the name William Woods in 1990, court documents show.

Federal prosecutors have not provided information about what precipitated the name change, said Tony Morfitt, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney in northern Iowa. But records show he had a troubled childhood: He ran away from home at 16, traveled across the country, stole a car in San Francisco and was arrested in Oregon, but never appeared in court.

Over the years he married and had a child, all as Woods. He used a genealogy website to research Woods’ family history and used that information to fraudulently obtain a copy of Woods’ birth certificate in Kentucky, federal prosecutors said.

He used Woods’ identification card to get his job at the University of Iowa Hospital and to obtain a series of loans through credit unions in the state totaling more than $200,000, prosecutors said.

When Woods heard about the debt in 2019, he walked into the bank in California. He said he did not want to pay and tried to close the accounts Keirans had opened in his name.

He provided his Social Security card, as well as his California ID. But there was a lot of money in the accounts, so the branch manager asked the real Woods some security questions. Unable to answer them, the bank called police, court records show.

Keirans, who was listed as Woods on the account, told police he had not allowed anyone in California to access his bank accounts. He then faxed police a series of fraudulently obtained identification documents, court records show.

Police arrested Woods and charged him with identity theft and false impersonation. They insisted Woods was actually called Matthew Kierans, misspelling his tormentor’s name. Court documents do not explain how police linked Woods or the bank accounts to that name.

Police in Los Angeles confirmed to The Associated Press that Woods had been arrested but declined to comment further.

Because Woods repeatedly disputed the identity authorities forced upon him, a California judge ruled him mentally unfit to stand trial and sent him to a psychiatric hospital, where he was given psychotropic medication.

The real Keiranen periodically called the police and prosecutors as the case progressed. At one point he was told the case was on hold until Woods regained his mental skills. Court records show Keirans responded: “This is assuming he does.”

Woods spent 428 days in jail and 147 days in the psychiatric hospital before being released after agreeing to a plea of ​​no contest. He was ordered to pay $400 in fines and stop using the name William Woods.

But instead of quitting, Woods continued to push to regain his identity. One problem was that California was trying to recoup the costs of his time in the psychiatric hospital, court records show.

Keirans complained in one email to Los Angeles prosecutors that Woods had filed 30 disputes on his credit report and that he had spent just two hours “clearing it all up.” He continued: “I need some advice on what steps I should take at this point.”

Undeterred, Woods contacted the University of Iowa Hospital, where Keirans earned more than $100,000 a year. Security referred Woods’ complaint to University of Iowa police.

Keirans initially emphasized in an interview that the victim was “crazy” and “needed help and should be locked up,” federal prosecutors said.

But a detective tracked down the biological father listed on Woods’ birth certificate and tested the father’s DNA against Woods’ DNA. The test showed that Woods was the man’s son.

When police confronted Keirens with the DNA evidence, he said, “My life is over” and “Everything is gone.”

Woods did not respond to the AP’s attempts to request comment through a court liaison who works with victims, and the Los Angeles public defender’s office did not respond to emails.

AP also called people believed to be relatives of Woods, but no one returned calls. One person texted back one word: “Stop.”

The news stunned Keiran’s family and friends. Letters written to the court on his behalf described him as a good father, kind and trustworthy.

“I believe Matt’s motivation was simple: to create a family and home that he did not have growing up,” wrote his 30-year-old wife, Nancy Zimmer, describing how he helped her as she pursued a doctorate in theology .

Their adult son identified himself as “the son of Matthew Keirans, formerly known as William Woods – known to me in both cases as Dad.”