Who is the California man sentenced to a mental hospital for using his real name?

In 2019, William Woods was an unhoused individual living in Los Angeles when he learned that someone had accessed his bank accounts and taken out loans in his name. Woods tried to clear up the situation at the credit union, but rather than help solve Woods’ problem, Woods was accused of identity theft and wound up in a mental hospital instead.

About five years later, the truth emerged when Matthew David Keirans, a former IT employee working remotely at the University of Iowa hospital, pleaded guilty to identity theft and other charges. Keirans had been living as Woods for more than 30 years.

Back in 2019, When Woods reported the suspected identity theft, he didn’t know the security questions to the accounts Keirans opened under his name. The credit union contacted Keirans, who lived as Woods outside Milwaukee, using the information Keirans supplied when he opened the accounts. Keirans said no one in California had permission to access them.

At that time, it was Woods, not Keirans, who was accused of living under an assumed identity and that it was him, not Keirans, attempting to steal Woods’ name. The authorities ordered Woods held without bail, and Keirans played the part of the victim in the case. He reportedly told the authorities that Woods was “crazy,” “needed help,” and “should be locked up.”

Accordingly, in 2020, Woods was admitted to a California mental hospital for continuing to insist he was telling the truth and treated with psychotropic medications. One year later, Woods was released when he pleaded no contest to two felony charges and finally agreed to drop the complaint, saying that from then on, he would only go by his real name: Matthew Keirans, according to The Des Moines Register.

William Woods and Matthew Keirans met each other in 1988

William Woods and Matthew Keirans did know one another. They reportedly briefly met in 1988 while working at a hot dog stand in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Woods later recalled at one point, his wallet disappeared, but he got it back, and all his identifying documents were still inside.

Keirans’ motivation for stealing Woods’ identity is unclear. But beginning around 1988, he assumed Woods’ identity. He lived as Woods from then on, securing several personal documents in Woods’ name, including a Kentucky birth certificate, where the real Woods was born. As far as the legal record, the real Keirans disappeared.

While living under an assumed identity, Keirans opened bank accounts, bought cars, took out personal loans, got jobs, and even got married in 1994. Keirans’ son only ever knew his father as Woods. Finally, Keirans landed a lucrative remote IT position with the University of Iowa Hospital as Woods. He worked there for more than a decade and was fired when the institution found out about the investigation.

Although the real Woods pleaded no contest to identity theft and pledged to drop the case, he continued his search for Keirans. He finally narrowed his search to Iowa and contacted the hospital where he worked. Officials at the hospital interviewed the fraudulent Woods, who denied the accusations. Investigators, however, suspected the real Woods was right, and a University of Iowa police detective tracked down his father, still living in Kentucky, who agreed to a DNA test, proving once and for all, that the Woods living in California was his son, and not Keirans.

Keirans admitted the truth

When confronted with the DNA evidence, Keirans admitted everything. At that time, Keirans reportedly said, “My life is over,” and “Everything is gone.” As of this report, it was unclear when Keirans, who was 58 when he was caught, would be sentenced, but according to The Courier, he is facing from two to 32 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines. Little else is known about his background, but he reportedly told investigators he dropped out of school, ran away from home, and has been traveling ever since.

According to The Guardian, Keirans’ ex-wife, Nancy Zimmer, wrote to the court, supporting the man she knew as Woods, “I believe [Keirans’] motivation was simple: to create the family and home he did not have in his youth.” Meanwhile, Keirans’ son called himself ” … the son of Matthew Keirans, formerly known as William Woods — in either case, known to me as Dad.” As of this report, Woods had not commented in the press about the situation. Between the mental hospital and jail, he spent more than 500 days in custody for nothing more than using his real name.