Former Hospital IT Administrator Convicted in Decades-Long Identity Theft Scheme
A man who had worked as a high-level IT administrator for a hospital in Iowa was found guilty in a complex identity theft plot that spanned over thirty years, leading to the wrongful imprisonment of his victim, according to authorities.
Last week, the ex-hospital administrator, who had been using the identity of his victim, finally confessed to two federal charges after assuming the false identity for decades.
Reports from the United States Attorney's Office for Iowa's northern district reveal that a 58-year-old man named Matthew David Keirans from Hartland, Wisconsin, has been found guilty of making false statements to a National Credit Union Administration insured institution and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, Keirans could face up to 32 years in prison, a $1.25 million fine, and five years of mandatory supervised release.
In a separate development, a hearing is scheduled in California to overturn Woods' conviction. According to Venusse Dunn from the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, the two men, Keirans and Woods, initially crossed paths while working at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during the late 1980s.
Court documents indicate that Keirans ceased using his real name and social security number after 1988, adopting the alias William Woods in 1990. The reasons behind this sudden change remain undisclosed by federal prosecutors, as mentioned by Tony Morfitt, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney in northern Iowa.
Keirans' troubled past, marked by a turbulent childhood and a series of incidents across different states, sheds light on the complexities surrounding his identity switch. His history includes running away from home at 16, journeying across the country, stealing a car in San Francisco, and facing an arrest in Oregon without appearing in court.
A Tale of Identity Theft
Once upon a time, a man named Kierans decided to assume the identity of Woods. He delved into genealogy websites, piecing together Woods' family history to fraudulently obtain a copy of Woods' Kentucky birth certificate, according to federal prosecutors.
With Woods' ID in hand, Kierans landed a job at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City in 2013. Using false identification documents, including a fake I-9 form, Social Security number, and date of birth, Kierans successfully passed the hiring process under Woods' name.
Despite working remotely from Wisconsin, Kierans held a key administrative role within the hospital's online infrastructure, boasting the highest access privileges. This revelation raises concerns about data breaches in hospital systems and health care networks.
Over the years, Kierans leveraged Woods' identity to secure over $200,000 in loans from credit unions between August 2016 and May 2022, as per prosecutors.
Upon discovering the debt in 2019, Woods took matters into his own hands. He visited a Los Angeles branch of a national bank where Kierans had accounts, expressing his refusal to pay the debt and requesting the closure of all accounts opened under his name.
He presented his social security card, along with his California ID. However, the accounts contained significant funds, prompting the branch manager to ask the actual Woods a series of security questions. Failing to provide satisfactory answers, the bank contacted law enforcement, according to court records.
Identified as Woods on the account, Keirans informed the police that he did not authorize anyone in California to access his bank accounts. Subsequently, he sent authorities a set of fraudulently obtained identification documents via fax, as detailed in court records.
Woods was taken into custody by the police and charged with identity theft and false impersonation. Authorities maintained that Woods was actually named Matthew Kierans, with his tormentor's name being misspelled. The court documents do not clarify how law enforcement connected Woods or the bank accounts to that particular name.
Officials in Los Angeles, when contacted by The Associated Press, verified Woods' arrest but declined to provide further details.
Due to Woods consistently disputing the identity imposed on him, a California judge ruled him mentally incompetent to stand trial and transferred him to a state mental facility, where he was administered psychotropic medication.
Throughout the legal proceedings, the real Keirans periodically reached out to the police and prosecutors. Upon being informed that the case was paused until Woods regained mental competence, court records indicate that Keirans remarked: "This is assuming he does."
Woods spent 428 days in county jail and 147 days in the mental hospital before he was released after agreeing to a no-contest plea. He was ordered to pay $400 in fines and to stop using the name William Woods.
But instead of stopping, Woods continued to push to regain his identity. One issue was that California was attempting to recoup expenses from his time at the mental hospital, court records show.
Undeterred, Woods reached out to the University of Iowa Hospital, where Keirans was earning more than $100,000 a year. Security there referred Woods' complaint to University of Iowa Police.
Keirans initially insisted in an interview that the victim was "crazy" and "needed help and should be locked up," federal prosecutors said.
But a detective tracked down the biological father listed on Woods' birth certificate and tested the father's DNA against Woods' DNA. The test proved Woods was the man's son.
When police confronted Keirans about the DNA evidence, he said: "My life is over" and "Everything is gone."
Woods has not responded to the AP's efforts to seek comment via a court liaison who works with victims, and the public defender's office in Los Angeles didn't respond to emails.
AP also called people believed to be relatives of Woods, but no one called back. One person texted back a single word: "Stop."
The news stunned Keirans' family and friends. Letters written to the court on his behalf described him as a good father, kind and trustworthy.
"I believe Matt's motivation was simple: to create the family and home he did not have in his youth," wrote his wife of 30 years, Nancy Zimmer, who described him working to help her as she earned a doctorate in theology.
Their adult son identified himself as "the son of Matthew Keirans, formerly known as William Woods — in either case, known to me as Dad."
