Decades-Long Identity Theft Nightmare Lands Innocent Man in Prison
In a shocking tale of stolen identity and wrongful incarceration, William Woods, a 55-year-old man from Los Angeles, has come forward to share his harrowing experience. Woods spent two years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, all because of the actions of his former colleague, Matthew David Keirans. The ordeal began in 1988 when Woods and Keirans worked together at a hot dog stand in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After a minor altercation in which Woods confronted Keirans about a missing wallet, the latter decided to take drastic measures, stealing Woods’ personal information, including his Social Security number and birth certificate. Over the next three decades, Keirans systematically used Woods’ identity to his own advantage. In 1990, he obtained a fake Colorado ID under Woods’ name and used it to secure employment at a fast-food restaurant and open a bank account. This was just the beginning of his fraudulent activities. In 1991, Keirans purchased a car for $600 using Woods’ name, but the checks he used to pay for it bounced. He then drove the stolen vehicle to Idaho, where it broke down, and abandoned it, withdrawing all the money from the Colorado account and leaving the state. Keirans’ crimes only escalated from there. In 1994, he used Woods’ identity to get married and have a child, whom he gave the surname Woods. He even went so far as to obtain a copy of Woods’ birth certificate using information he found on Ancestry.com. The real William Woods, meanwhile, was living a vastly different life. Unaware of the identity theft, he found himself homeless in Los Angeles, struggling to make ends meet. The turning point came in 2019 when Woods went to a bank branch and tried to close his accounts, only to be met with confusion. The bank had records of the accounts being used by Keirans, who had set up security questions and provided a phone number that the bank had on file. When the bank called the number, Keirans answered the security questions, convincing the employees that he was the rightful account holder. The bank then contacted the LAPD, leading to Woods’ arrest on charges of identity theft and unauthorized use of personal information. Despite Woods’ insistence that he was not Keirans, the justice system failed him. He was found mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered to a psychiatric hospital, where he was forced to undergo psychotropic medication. It wasn’t until 2023 that the truth finally came to light. Woods, determined to clear his name, tracked down Keirans, who was working as a systems architect at the University of Iowa Hospital’s IT department, earning a staggering $700,000 over the past decade. Detective Ian Mallory of the University of Iowa Police Department launched an investigation, eventually obtaining DNA evidence that proved Woods was the true identity holder, and Keirans was the perpetrator of this elaborate fraud. Confronted with the evidence, Keirans confessed to his crimes, pleading guilty to false use of a birth certificate and other charges. He now faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison, with a possible maximum of 32 years, along with a $1.25 million fine and 5 years of supervised release. As for William Woods, the ordeal has left him scarred, both physically and emotionally. “They should pay for every day I had to stay there,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “It isn’t right to be putting me in jail for nothing.”
Now, Woods is focused on rebuilding his life, having moved back to Albuquerque, where he is staying with a friend. His former boss at the hot dog stand, Eric Kilmer, described him as “the most innocent type fellow you’ll ever want to me.”
This case serves as a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of identity theft and the importance of a fair and just legal system. For William Woods, the road to recovery will be long, but he is determined to reclaim the life that was stolen from him.
