Identity Thief Lived as a Different Man for 33 Years

[uk666]

Identity Thief Lived as a Different Man for 33 Years

A 58-year-old hospital systems administrator pleaded guilty this week to US federal charges after he was caught using another man’s name for more than 30 years. 

Matthew David Keirans allegedly stole the identity of William Woods in 1988, when the two men worked at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa. 

Over the decades, Keirans obtained employment, bank accounts, loans, and insurance, and paid taxes, under the Woods name. Keirans even had a child whose last name is Woods.

The real William Woods, meanwhile, reportedly learned that someone else was using his identity in 2019. At the time, Woods was unhoused and living in Los Angeles. He contacted a bank where “William Woods” had an account, providing his real Social Security card and California ID card to prove his identity. However, he could not answer the security questions to gain access. 

The bank called Keirans, who was pretending to be Woods and Keirans convinced the bank employee that the real Woods should not have access to the accounts. The Los Angeles Police Department then arrested the real Woods and charged him with identity theft after Keirans provided officers with false documents and information.

In a nightmarish twist, during judicial proceedings, the real Woods accurately maintained that “William Donald Woods” was his true identity, prompting the court to order him to a mental institution. The real Woods ultimately spent 428 days in jail and 147 days in a mental hospital before his release.

The real Woods then continued to work to regain his true identity, eventually contacting authorities after learning that Keirans worked at a hospital in Iowa City. 
Investigators later confirmed the real Woods’ identity after obtaining a DNA test.

Confronted with the evidence, Keirans confessed to a series of crimes and now faces a maximum sentence of 32 years in prison, a $1.25 million fine, and five years of supervised release.