Identity theft: US man gets identity back after 30 years, stolen by hot-dog stand colleague

Matthew Keirans pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft. Photo / US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa

The nightmare of William Woods began on a hot-dog stand in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In 1988 he worked there with Matthew Keirans, a petty criminal, who over the next three decades would steal every aspect of his identity – having children, setting up bank accounts and even falsely using a birth certificate in his name.

By the time Woods, who had spent time homeless, tried to claim back his identity, nobody believed him. Instead he was sent to prison and finally to a psychiatric ward as he refused to give up the cause.

The saga concluded earlier this week when Keirans, 58, pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated identity theft and providing a false statement to a federally insured institution. The charges could mean up to 32 years’ imprisonment and a US$1.25 million fine.

Keirans admitted to using Woods’ identity in “every aspect of his life”, according to his signed plea agreement. He was employed under Woods’ name in the IT department of the University of Iowa Hospital until last year, when he was fired for misconduct related to the investigation, the Iowa gazette reported.

Stolen documents and mounting debts

After crossing paths with Woods in the late 1980s, Keirans managed to obtain employment and insurance documents and open a bank account in his victim’s name.

When he secured a Colorado ID card in 1990, Keirans stole a car by paying for it with cheques, signed by “William Woods”, which bounced. He then drove hundreds of miles to Idaho before abandoning the vehicle and emptying his own bank account.

Authorities issued a warrant for Woods in Colorado, though it is unclear whether he was arrested.

In 2012, Keirans fraudulently bought a copy of Woods’ birth certificate from the state of Kentucky, using information he found out about his family from Ancestry.com.

The next year, Keirans moved to Wisconsin and began work with the University of Iowa hospitals. He earned more than $700,000 over the following decade while taking out loans with credit unions.

The real William Woods, living homeless in Los Angeles, discovered in 2019 that someone had used his identity to accumulate more than $200,000 in debt.

He asked a local bank to close any accounts associated with his name because he did not want to be liable for the sum, providing a social security card and a California identification card.

He was unable to answer the security questions that Keirans had set up.

The bank called Keirans, who answered the questions correctly and said that no one in California should have access to his accounts. He also faxed police a number of fake identity documents.

Woods was later arrested and charged with identity theft and false impersonation as a “Matthew Kierans”.

He insisted he was the real William Woods throughout the proceedings, prompting the judge to rule he was not mentally competent to stand trial in February 2020. He was then sent to a mental hospital in California for five months and ordered to take psychotropic drugs.

The real William Woods

Woods eventually pleaded no contest to the charges without accepting guilt, and was sentenced to two years in prison. He was also fined $400 and ordered to stop using the name William Woods.

He continued to insist his identity had been stolen, contacting law enforcement agencies around the country while attempting to clear his credit history.

When he discovered Keirans was employed by the University of Iowa hospital, he spoke to their security department, who passed on his complaint to the police.

A DNA test proved Woods’ identity by establishing a match with the father listed on his birth certificate.

When interviewed by the police, Keirans insisted that his victim was “crazy”, telling officers that he “needed help and should be locked up”.

His scheme fell apart when he was confronted with the DNA evidence. “My life is over,” he said. “Everything is gone.”

Keirans pleaded guilty to false use of a birth certificate in August 2023 and was sentenced to 20 days in a county jail.

He was then charged with, and admitted to, aggravated identity theft and providing a false statement to the National Credit Union Administration. A sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.