2024-04-10 19:30:54

Published10. April 2024, 9:30 p.m

USA: Keiran stole someone else’s identity – with fatal consequences

An identity thief managed to live another man’s life for decades. Because of his behavior, the victim ended up in prison several times and became homeless.

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• A meeting at a hot dog stand ended up in a mental institution for an American.

• Over the decades, Keirans assumed Woods’ identity in many aspects of his life.

• Woods fought the identity theft, but he wasn’t believed – instead he ended up in prison and a psychiatric hospital.

In 1988, William Donald Woods met Matthew David Keirans at a hot dog stand. But the American didn’t know at the time that this would ruin his life for decades to come.

Because two years following the meeting, Keirans managed to obtain an ID card in Wood’s name from the state of Colorado. This started an identity theft that would last for decades and deceive banks, the police and judges.

Jobs, accounts and driver’s license under a false name

Keirans managed to obtain Woods’ Social Security number and birth certificate. He was also able to obtain insurance in his victim’s name, as well as a bank account and a driver’s license. He also worked in several jobs under Woods’ name.

Fortunately, the story ended well for the victim on April 1, 2024. The identity thief Keirans (58) confessed to his crime and pleaded guilty to all counts. Until things got that far, Woods fought as a tormented man for years.

Psychiatric hospital because no one believed him

Over the years, Keirans accumulated $130,000 in debt in Woods’ name. In 2019, Woods, who was then living homeless in Los Angeles due to debt, tried to fight identity theft. He wanted to close the bank accounts and make it clear to the bank that his identity had been stolen.

Unfortunately, he mightn’t answer the bank’s security questions. Keirans was able to do this without any problems. After a brief police investigation, the real Woods was accused and charged with identity theft.

Because he insisted during the trial that he was the real Woods, his lawyer pleaded insanity. In 2020, the court sentenced Woods to a stay in a psychiatric clinic. At that point, he had already spent 400 days in prison because of issues related to his identity.

Happy End dank DNA-Test

When the real Woods was released from the psychiatric hospital in 2021, he resumed the fight for his identity. He tracked down Keirans in Iowa, where he was working as Woods for University Hospital. The real Woods informed the hospital regarding the false identity, whereupon they started an internal investigation. Keirans defended himself once morest the prosecution. The police were called in once more.

According to court documents, Keirans allegedly told the investigating commissioner that he doubted the officer would be able to get to the bottom of the matter since no one else had done so.

But the inspector was not so easily dissuaded from the case. He compared the real Woods’ DNA with his father’s and found they matched.

Fraudsters face imprisonment and fines worth millions

Confronted with the evidence, Keirans confessed to the fraud and revealed that he had used Ancestry.com to obtain Woods’ birth certificate. Kieran’s sentence has yet to be officially announced, but he will spend at least two years in prison and will likely have to pay a fine of $1.25 million.

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