Court records say Keirans, 58, used Woods' identity to obtain insurance, a Social Security number, birth certificate, driver's license, credit, fast food jobs and bank accounts. He is said to have even had a child named Woods.
In 2019, the real Woods, now 55, realized someone owed him $130,000 and went to the bank to close the account. The Kaylands then lobbied to have Woods arrested for stealing his identity, resulting in Woods spending more than a year in prison and nearly 150 days in a psychiatric hospital.
The case came to a head last year when Woods learned the Kierans worked at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. The health system alerted police, and detectives “unraveled” the scheme using DNA evidence to prove that Keirans was not who he said he was, according to a Justice Department news release.
Keirans initially told detectives the victim was “crazy” and needed to be “locked up,” then later confessed to identity theft and providing fraudulent documents to help arrest Woods. did.
Mr. Keirans' attorney did not respond to a request for comment Friday, nor did Mr. Woods.
In 1990, two years after the two met at a hot dog stand, Kierans obtained a fraudulent Colorado ID with Woods' name and date of birth, according to court documents.
The feud lasted for years. Keiran and his friends live as Woods in each state, and Woods tries to live his own life.
The Keilans racked up tens of thousands of dollars in debt in Woods' name. In August 2019, Mr. Woods, a homeless man in Los Angeles, went to a bank and told the national chain (unnamed in the complaint) that someone had used his Social Security number to make a $130,000 loan under his identity. I told them that I was accumulating debt. He wanted to close the account and gave his Social Security card to his assistant branch manager.
The employee asked Mr. Woods where and when he opened the account. Woods couldn't answer.
Police arrested Mr. Woods and charged him with unlawful use of personal information. They also asked Keiran and his colleagues why they used different middle names in some documents.
The Los Angeles district attorney charged Woods with two felonies, Identity theft and identity theft. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
During the trial, the real Mr. Woods continued to maintain that he was who he said he was, and his lawyer told the court there were doubts about his mental competency to stand trial. Months later, in February 2020, a California judge ruled Woods mentally incompetent to stand trial and ordered him committed to a psychiatric hospital.
During the nearly two years that Woods was in prison and then in a psychiatric hospital, Keirans requested updates “on numerous occasions.”
“I am the person whose identity was compromised,” Keirans wrote in an email to the assistant district attorney.
In March 2021, Woods was found guilty without contest in exchange for release. In May of that year, a court ordered Woods to use only “his real name, Matthew Cayrance.”
But the story wasn't over yet.
A few months later, Woods contacted the police department in Hartland, Wisconsin, where Kierans lived. Keirans then told a Los Angeles detective that the person who had been “convicted of stealing my ID and attempting to falsify my bank account” knew where he lived. I am concerned,” he wrote in the letter.
Heartland police did not investigate.
Woods didn't give up. He filed a second identity theft complaint in September 2022. Keilans referred to Woods as “Matthew Keilans” and said his identity remains under threat.
The farce unraveled in 2023 when Woods contacted Kierans' employer.
In January of that year, Woods told an Iowa hospital system where Kierans was working remotely that an employee had stolen his identity. Kaylans replied: The Los Angeles Assistant District Attorney reported that the employer has launched an internal investigation. A detective from Iowa was in charge of the case.
Mr. Cayrans elaborated further.
According to court documents, Keirans told detectives that he doubted the officer would be able to get to the bottom of the matter because no one else could and “just deal with it.” He said he was fine.
Detectives then matched Woods' DNA to that of his father, who lives in Kentucky. A few weeks later, he interviewed Kierans, who argued that Woods should be “locked up.”
When the Iowa detective asked Kaylans to name his father, he responded by naming his own father, not Woods' father. Investigators later uncovered his DNA evidence.
“My life is over,” Cailance replied.
Keirans admitted fraud and said he used Ancestry.com to obtain Woods' birth certificate. He remains in custody pending sentencing. He faces at least two years in prison and a $1.25 million fine.
“Everything is gone,” Keilans told detectives after 30 years of using other people's cars. name.
