Iowa hospital executive stole hot dog cart vendor's identity and used it for three decades while obtaining $200K in loans - with victim labeled 'crazy' and thrown into a mental hospital when he complained

An Iowa Hospital executive stole a hot dog cart vendor's identity in 1988 to rack up $200,000 in loans, marry and have a child using the stolen name  - while the victim was locked up in a mental hospital for trying to claim his identity back.

Matthew David Keirans, 58, is now facing up to 32 years in prison after he was convicted of one count of false statement to a National Credit Union Administration insured institution and one count of aggravated identity theft. 

Keirans stole the identity of William Woods, 55, in 1988 when the pair worked together on a hotdog stand in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

He began to live under his name, taking out loans, getting married and starting a successful career in IT. 

Woods discovered the fraud 30 years later and tried to reclaim his identity but authorities did not believe him, and he was locked up and sent to a mental hospital for two years.

It was only when Woods contacted the university where Keirans was working as an IT executive on a $140,500 salary, that police investigated and did a DNA test on the two men, revealing the truth. 

Keirans then admitted the decades-long fraud, telling investigators 'my life is over' and 'everything is gone'. He remains in the custody of the US Marshals awaiting sentencing. 

Matthew David Keirans stole the identity of William Woods, 55, in 1988 

He began to live under his name, taking out loans, getting married and starting a successful career in IT at the University of Iowa Hospital

Keirans was born in January 1966 and was adopted, along with his brother, and raised in San Francisco, California. His adoptive parents died in 1986 and 2000, according to court documents. 

When he was 16, he ran away from his adoptive family's home and stole a car, driving to Oregon where he was arrested but never appeared in court. 

He made his way to Albuquerque and started working on a hotdog stand where he met his victim, the real William Woods. 

Keirans stole his name and identity and used it 'in every aspect of his life' for the next three decades, according to court documents.

In 1990, Keirans got a fake Colorado ID under Woods’ name and birthday and used it to get a job at a fast-food restaurant and a Colorado bank account. He then bought a car for $600 in 1991, also using Woods' name, with two $300 checks that bounced.

Keirans drove to Idaho where the stolen car broke down and abandoned it, withdrawing all of his money from the Colorado account and leaving the state. 

From there, his fraud ramped up. 

In 1994, still using Woods' name, Keirans got married and had a child, who he gave the surname Woods. 

He then moved to Wisconsin and obtained a copy of Woods' birth certificate using information about his family he found on Ancestry.com.

In 2013, he got a job as a systems architect in the the University of Iowa Hospital's IT department.

He worked there for the next 10 years, earning more than $700,000 in total, and by 2023, his salary was $140,501, according to the hospital.

Over the years he took out multiple vehicle and personal loans from Iowa credit unions under Woods' name, worth more than $200,000. 

Meanwhile, the real Woods was living homeless in Los Angeles. 

In 2019, Woods went to a branch of the national bank and said he had discovered someone was using his bank accounts and had accumulated debt, and asked to close the accounts. 

He gave the bank his ID and his social security number, which matched the information the bank had, but he couldn't answer the security questions that Keirans had set up. 

The bank called the number they had on file for him - Keirans' number - and Keiran answered the security questions, telling the bank employees that no one in California had permission to access his accounts. 

The bank employee called LAPD who questioned Woods and Keirans. 

Keirans stole Woods' name and identity and used it 'in every aspect of his life' for the next three decades, according to court documents

He met his victim, the real Woods, when they worked together on a hot dog stand (not pictured)

After the real Woods tried to reclaim his identity, he was arrested and charged with identity theft and false impersonation

The real Woods was arrested and charged with identity theft and false impersonation, but when he continued to insist he was the real Woods, a judge ruled in February 2020 that he was not mentally competent to stand trial. 

He was sent to a mental hospital in California where he was medicated and confined. 

In March 2021, Woods pleaded no contest to the identity theft charges, meaning he accepted the conviction but did not admit guilt, and was sentenced to two years in jail. 

He was given credit for the two years he had already spent in county jail and hospital and was released under orders to stop using the name William Woods. 

He did not stop and continued to attempt to regain his identity, reaching out to police and financial institutions.  

Eventually he managed to find out where Keirans was working and in January 2023 he contacted the hospital's security department. 

The hospital referred his complaint to the University of Iowa Police Department, where Detective Ian Mallory opened an investigation. 

Mallory found Woods' biological father and tested his DNA against Woods' and Keirans'. 

The DNA proved Woods was who he said he was and Keirans was a fraud. 

In July 2023, more than 30 years after Keirans first stole Woods' identity, Mallory interviewed him. 

He asked him what his father's name was and Keirans accidentally gave the name of his own adoptive father. 

Mallory then confronted Keirans with the DNA evidence and he responded saying 'my life is over' and 'everything is gone'. 

He then confessed to prolonged identity theft, according to court documents, and was taken into custody on July 18 2023.

Keirans pleaded guilty to false use of birth certificate and the other charge was dropped. He was then indicted in federal court on December 12, on five counts of false statement to a National Credit Union Administration insured institution and two counts of aggravated identity theft. 

He pleaded guilty to one count of each charge and the other counts were dropped.

A sentencing has not yet been scheduled, he is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 32 years’ imprisonment, a $1.25 million fine, and five years of supervised release following any imprisonment.