User:CipherSleuth/sandbox
Matthew David Keirans | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1966 California, U.S. |
| Occupation | IT worker (under stolen identity) |
| Employer(s) | University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (fraudulently, 2013–2023) |
| Known for | Decades-long identity theft of William Woods |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Motive | Personal financial gain; avoid prosecution under his real identity |
| Conviction | Guilty plea (April 1, 2024) |
| Criminal charge | Identity theft, making false statements |
| Penalty | 12 years in federal prison |
| Details | |
Span of crimes | 1988–2023 |
| Country | United States |
| States | New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Wisconsin, Iowa, California |
Date apprehended | 2023 |
Matthew Dave Kierans committed a decades-long scheme of identity theft that resulted in the institutionalization and imprisonment of his victim, William Woods. Kierans stole Woods's wallet in the late 1980s and used it to assume the other man's identity, likely to escape legal trouble under his real name. Over several decades, Kierans used Woods's identity to build a new life, getting married and obtaining employment under the false name.
Woods, who often experienced homeless, tried multiple times to reclaim his identity. However, Kierans obstructed those attempts, successfully convincing authorities that Woods was the imposter. Wrongly accused of identity theft, Woods spent five months in a psychiatric hospital and over a year in jail. Kierans's scheme was uncovered in 2023, when DNA evidence exonerated Woods. Kierans confessed and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The case received international attention, with many observers referring it as a Kafkaesque miscarriage of justice.
Early life and background
Kierans was born in 1966. He grew up in California, raised by adoptive parents.[1] At the age of 16 or 17, he ran away from home without graduating from high school. He soon began experiencing legal trouble as he moved around the country, including arrests in California, Kentucky, and New Mexico.[1] One of his encounters with the law involved the alleged theft of a car in San Francisco.[2] Following his arrest for the motor vehicle theft, Kierans skipped a court date and disappeared from law enforcement. Authorities have no record of Kierans using his real name, social security number, or date of birth after 1988.[3]
Identity theft scheme
In the late 1980s, Kierans was living homeless in Albuquerque, New Mexico when he encountered Williams Woods. Kierans worked alongside Woods, who was also homeless, at a hot dog stand. Woods would later recall the theft of his wallet by Kierans during their time working together.[3] In 1990, Kierans obtained a driver's license in Colorado under Woods's identity. Around this time Kierans was working as a newspaper carrier,[3] while also allegedly committing a string of crimes under Woods's name, including vehicular theft.[1] Kierans activity with law enforcement soon ceased after he got married and had a child. To help corroborate his false identity, Kierans used Ancestry.com to obtain the birth certificate of Woods. He used the birth certificate, along with the driver's license, to build a new life under Woods's name. Under the false identity, Kierans opened bank accounts; applied for titles, deeds, and loans; and obtained employment. He eventually embarked on a career in IT, becoming a high-level administration at a hospital system managed by the University of Iowa.[2] He earned over $140,000 a year, while working remotely from his home in Wisconsin.
To maintain his identity, Kieran's stymied efforts by Woods to reclaim his identity. Woods bounced around between jobs and was often homeless. He tried several times to convince authorties that his identity was being stolen, to no avail. Between, August 2016 and May 2022, Kierans took out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans under Woods's name. Woods went to a bank in California to try and close the loans, aruging that he did not pay the debt and did not want to be responsible forit. The bank did not believe him and contacted the authorities, who in turn, contacted Kierans. Kierans sent the authorities documentation that convinced them that the real Woods was lying. Woods, as a result, was tried in court for identity theft and found guilty. The judge called him crazy and remanded Woods to imprisonment and forced psychiatric medication.
Discovery and Conviction
Kierans came under scrutiny of a detective, William Mallory, in February 2023. Mallory worked a campus police officer at the University of Iowa, the employer of Kierans. Woods contacted Mallory to try and get help. Mallory was skeptical at first but agree to help Woods. The strategy employed by Mallory was to conduct a DNA test using the father listed on the birth certificate for Woods. On June 19, 2023, it was shown that the Kierans was the imposter because Woods's DNA matched the father's.
When confronted with the evidence Kieran's confessed to the scheme. "My life is over" [2]. On April 1, 2024, Keirans pleaded guilty to identity theft and fraud. His fraudulent actions led to his sentencing to 12 years in prison [4].
Woods has since sought to rebuild his life, exploring legal options for compensation for his Woods is working on a landscaper in Albequere.[4] His case serves as a cautionary tale about identity theft, wrongful conviction, and systemic failures in law enforcement and criminal justice systems.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1988 | William Woods and Matthew David Keirans meet while working at a hot dog stand in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[5] |
| 1990 | Keirans fraudulently obtains a Colorado state ID card under Woods’s name and opens a bank account, beginning long-term identity theft.[6] |
| 2019 | Woods, living in Los Angeles, discovers that over $130,000 in debt had been accumulated in his name. He attempts to close the fraudulent accounts, but Keirans falsely reports Woods as the identity thief.[5] |
| 2019 – 2021 | Woods is arrested for identity theft and impersonation, spends over 400 days in jail, and is declared incompetent to stand trial. He ultimately pleads no contest and is released with time served.[7] |
| 2023 | Woods contacts the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where Keirans works under Woods’s identity. An investigation leads to DNA evidence confirming Woods’s true identity.[6] |
| April 1, 2024 | Keirans pleads guilty to identity theft and fraud in federal court.[8] |
| April 11, 2024 | Woods’s wrongful conviction is vacated by a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, and the District Attorney’s Office dismisses his case.[7][9] |
References
- ^ a b c Nelson, Emily. "UI detective unravels identity theft scheme". This is UIowa. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
- ^ a b "Former hospital IT worker pleads guilty to 3-decade identity theft that led to his victim being jailed - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2024-04-08. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
- ^ a b c Smith, Mitch; Schaff, Erin (2025-02-03). "He Went to Jail for Stealing Someone's Identity. But It Was His All Along". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
- ^ "Identity thief whose deception led to his victim's incarceration gets a 12-year prison term". AP News. 2025-01-31. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
- ^ a b Rosenzweig-Ziff, Dan (April 6, 2024). "Decades of identity theft put the victim in jail and a mental hospital". The Washington Post.
- ^ a b Morris, William (April 8, 2024). "Detective unravels 30-year identity theft by University of Iowa worker". Des Moines Register.
- ^ a b "William Woods". National Registry of Exonerations. April 11, 2024.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Smith, Mitch (February 3, 2025). "He Went to Jail for Stealing Someone's Identity. But It Was His All Along". The New York Times.
- ^ Mejia, Brittny (2024-04-09). "A thief stole his identity, but nobody believed him. He spent nearly 2 years locked up". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2025-02-25.
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Premise
forthcoming
Conception
McMutry wrote the novel after finishing college at Northwestern State, writing at least 5-pages each morning. Shortly thereafter, the novel was sold to the movies for $10,000 in proceeds. In reflecting on the memoir, he wrote: "The publication so long awaited for, was anti-climatic".[1]
Analysis
In the book Southern Writers at Century's end, Folks and Perkins write that Horseman, Pass by “tells a story characteristic of much contemporary Western fiction: a young man's initiation into manhood.”[2] Hud represents the modern cowboy who is fenced out of his old range, whose mythological roots are dying, and who responds with range and violence."[3]
However, Horseman, Pass By eschews the typical formula of the Western novel up until that time, opting for a more realistic portrait of the modern cowboy after the settling of the Old West.[4] Bloodworth writes that "the landscape of the Old West exists primarily in the dreams and fantasies of the main characters".
Characters
Homer Bannon- old cowman who represented the old, ranching way of life. He has no interest in the oil fields springing up in the surrounding property.[5]
Hud - the stepson of Homer Bannon, who represents modern life and wants to turn the ranch into oil rig place
References
- ^ McMurtry, Larry (2008). Books: A Memoir. United States: Simon & Schuster. p. 59. ISBN 9781416583349.
- ^ Folks, Jeffrey J.; Perkins, James A. (1997). Southern Writers at Century's End. University Press of Kentucky.
- ^ Erickson, John R. (2004). The Modern Cowboy. University of North Texas Press. p. 94. ISBN 9781574411775.
- ^ Bloodworth, William (1980). Literary Extensions of the Formula Western. United States: University of Nebraska Press. p. 291.
Some Literary Westerns which are set after the years of settling the West seem to be conscious efforts at avoiding the classic landscape of the formula. In McMurtry's Horseman, Pass By... the landscape of the Old West exists primarily in the dreams and fantasies of the main characters.
- ^ Rebein, Robert (2014). Hicks, Tribes, and Dirty Realists: American Fiction After Postmodernism. United States: University Press of Kentucky. p. 120-121. ISBN 9780813149974.