Saga of US man sent to mental unit after claiming identity theft

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 three decades would steal every aspect of his identity – having children, setting up bank accounts and even using a birth certificate in his name.

By the time Mr 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 in jail and a $1.25 million (£990,000) fine.

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

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’s birth certificate from the state of Kentucky, using information he found out about his family from

“smartCard-inline”. A year later, 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 amass 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 case, 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.

Woods eventually pleaded no contest to the charges without accepting guilt, and was sentenced to two years in jail. 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’s identity by establishing a match with the father listed on his birth certificate.