General Discussion

Keirans met the real Woods in the late 1980s; Woods was Keirans’s coworker at the hotdog cart.
From then on, Keirans used Woods’s identity in virtually every aspect of his life. Keirans obtained
employment, insurance, a social security card, driver’s licenses, titles, loans, and
credit using Woods’s identity. Keirans paid taxes under Woods’s identity. When
Keirans stole a car, authorities issued an arrest warrant in Woods’s name, and when
Keirans stole another car, authorities arrested and booked him under Woods’s name.
Although Keirans got married, his wife did not know his real name, and their child
bore Woods’s surname. Keirans obtained his job at the hospital by using fictitious
identification documents, all in Woods’s name. While employed at the hospital,
Keirans continued obtaining credit union loans, using Woods’s actual social security
number and date of birth. And then Woods intervened.

In August 2019, Woods, then homeless and transient, entered a bank branch
in California and informed the assistant branch manager that someone, using his
identity, had obtained lines of credit and accumulated a large amount of debt. Woods
provided his social security card, whose number matched the social security number
associated with Keirans’s fraudulent accounts at that bank. However, upon
reviewing the accounts’ information, the assistant branch manager noted that the
address associated with the account was not a California address, but a Wisconsin
address—Keirans’s address. And when the assistant branch manager asked Woods
several security questions, he was unable to answer them correctly. Concerned, the
assistant branch manager called the telephone number associated with the fraudulent
accounts. Keirans answered.

Keirans instructed that no one in California should have access to the bank
accounts. After Keirans correctly answered the assistant branch manager’s security
questions, the assistant branch manager called the police. Police officers spoke with
Keirans over the phone, who told them that he did not give anyone in California
access to his bank accounts. Keirans then faxed the officers copies of a social
security card, driver’s license, and birth certificate—all stating that his name was
William Woods. And so it was Woods—not Keirans—who the police arrested for
identity theft.

Keirans told the police that he “wishe[d] to prosecute” Woods for “using his
identity.” The police therefore forwarded the case to the county prosecutor’s office,
which charged Woods with felony crimes of identity theft and false impersonation.
Throughout the ensuing state court criminal proceedings, Woods insisted that his
name was “William Woods” not “Matthew Keirans.” After Woods’s public
defender and an evaluating physician expressed concerns about his competency, the
state court determined that Woods was not mentally competent to stand trial and
ordered that he be placed in a mental hospital and receive psychotropic medication.
In March 2021, Woods was convicted of the felony charges. The state court
sentenced Woods to time served and ordered that Woods “use only [his] true name,
‘Matthew Keirans.’” In total, Woods spent 428 days in jail and 147 days in a mental
hospital.

After his release, Woods continued fighting to reclaim his identity. Keirans,
meanwhile, continued insisting to law enforcement that he was “William Woods”
and that Woods was “Matthew Keirans.” In January 2023, Woods contacted the
hospital where Keirans worked, informing its security department that Keirans had
stolen his identity. A hospital employee referred Woods’s complaint to the local law
enforcement, which assigned an experienced detective to investigate the complaint.

Gradually, the detective unraveled Keirans’s deception. Using DNA
evidence, the detective proved conclusively that Woods, not Keirans, is the true
“William Woods.” In July 2023, the detective confronted Keirans with this
evidence. At that point, Keirans admitted that he had used Woods’s identity for
several decades, produced false documents, and lied to law enforcement.