Man convicted in decades-long identity theft that led to his victim being jailed

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
Associated Press

William Woods was homeless and living in Los Angeles when he learned that someone was wracking up debt using his name. But when he reported his concerns to a branch manager of a bank, he wound up spending nearly two years locked up, accused of identity theft himself. Court records show that as he continued to insist he was Woods, he was even sent to a state mental hospital and drugged. Finally this week, a former high-level Iowa hospital IT worker who had assumed Woods’ identity for decades pleaded guilty to two federal charges. That man, 58-year-old Matthew David Keirans, who lived in Hartland, Wisconsin, is awaiting sentencing for making false statements to a National Credit Union Administration insured institution and aggravated identify theft.