• Education
    • Higher Education
    • Scholarships & Grants
    • Online Learning
    • School Reforms
    • Research & Innovation
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Home & Living
    • Relationships & Family
  • Technology & Startups
    • Software & Apps
    • Startup Success Stories
    • Startups & Innovations
    • Tech Regulations
    • Venture Capital
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Gadgets & Devices
    • Industry Analysis
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
Today Headline
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
Today Headline
No Result
View All Result
Home World News Us & Canada

Identity thief whose deception led to his victim’s incarceration gets a 12-year prison term

January 31, 2025
in Us & Canada
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
0
Judge strikes down New York law intended to protect minority groups' voting power
6
SHARES
12
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


An information technology expert who for decades assumed the identity of another man so convincingly that his victim was forcibly medicated and jailed for identity theft himself was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison.

Matthew David Keirans, 59, of Hartland, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty last April to federal charges of aggravated identify theft and making false statements to a National Credit Union Administration insured institution.

The charges shocked Keirans’ family and friends, who described him in letters to the court as kind, gracious and dependable. His victim, William Woods, said Keirans’ guilty plea spelled the end of a yearslong nightmare.

Woods said Keirans tried to make him look like the criminal.

“He deserved to get every bit of what he got from the judge,” Woods said after the sentencing.

Court records indicate Keirans had a rocky childhood, ran away from home at 16, stole a car in San Francisco and was arrested in Oregon but never appeared in court.

The two men met in the late 1980s while working at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico, court records show.

Woods said Keirans stole his wallet in 1988, but returned it after Woods threatened to punch him.

But while Keirans had possession of Woods’ wallet, he used the information on Woods’ social security card to apply for a driver’s license as William Woods.

At that point, “he’s got my name with his face on an ID card,” Woods told The Associated Press.

There is no record of Keirans using his real name or social security number after 1988. Court documents show he publicly assumed the name William Woods in 1990.

Over the years, Keirans married and had a child, all as Woods. He worked at the University of Iowa Hospital and used Woods’ ID to secure credit union loans in Iowa totaling more than $200,000, prosecutors said.

Woods, meanwhile, wasn’t earning enough to file taxes — around $3,000 a year at the time, but he wasn’t completely under the radar. In 2015, Yousef Saleh Erakat, a YouTuber known as FouseyTube, found Woods living on the street and created a series of videos with more than 1 million views each that document Erakat giving Woods food and paying for him to stay in a motel.

Woods used money Fousey gave him to pay for a credit-monitoring service, and learned that someone was racking up debt and opening accounts under his name. Outraged, Woods marched into a Los Angeles bank in 2019 and demanded an end to it.

“The guy is fraudulent,” Woods recalled saying.

The branch manager asked Woods a series of security questions that he was unable to answer because the answers had been set by Keirans. Then the bank called the police, court records say. Keirans, whom the bank believed was Woods, told police that no one in California had permission to access his accounts.

“Suspect entered bank and attempted to use victim’s personal identification to gain access to victim’s bank account,” the arrest report said.

The real Woods was then charged with identity theft and false impersonation.

Keirans’ attorney argued in a court filing that Woods tried to steal thousands of dollars from his client, and described Woods as a “wrongdoer whose own conduct should mitigate any sympathy felt for him.”

Woods is identified in court records from that time as Matthew Kierans, misspelling his tormentor’s name. There’s no record of how or why authorities came to identify him as such.

Woods told police the names of his relatives, and even offered to call the owner of the hot dog cart to prove his identity.

“They wouldn’t let me,” Woods said. He said the YouTube videos also proved his identity.

As Woods repeatedly disputed the identity authorities foisted upon him, a California judge found him not mentally competent to stand trial and sent him to a state mental hospital, where he received psychotropic medication, court records show.

Woods spent 428 days in county jail and 147 days in the mental hospital. He was released after agreeing to a no-contest plea — a case that has since been vacated. The Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender’s Office declined to comment.

Freed, Woods began a crusade to regain his identity, filing a string of reports. When he reached out to the University of Iowa Hospital, where Keirans was earning more than $100,000 a year, hospital security called the police.

Keirans initially told police that the victim “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 his DNA to confirm that Woods was his son.

“My life is over,” Keirans said, when confronted with the results.

Woods is now back living in Albuquerque where he works as a landscaper. He said he plans to seek compensation for his wrongful incarceration.

“My main goal,” he said, “is to rebuild my life.”

___

Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.



Source link

Tags: 11832471812yearArticlecourtsCrimeCriminal punishmentdeceptionGeneral newsidentityidentity theftincarcerationLaw enforcementledprisonPrisonstermtheftthiefU.S. newsVictims
Previous Post

Rwanda-backed M23 advances in DRC as volunteers rally to fight back

Next Post

Ice-repelling secrets of polar bear fur

Related Posts

Private lunar lander from Japan crashes into moon in failed mission

Private lunar lander from Japan crashes into moon in failed mission

June 6, 2025
5
Trump’s trade war exacerbates cost-of-living woes for Ontario worker

Trump’s trade war exacerbates cost-of-living woes for Ontario worker

June 6, 2025
4
Next Post
polar bear's head in close-up

Ice-repelling secrets of polar bear fur

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

April 2, 2025
Pioneering 3D printing project shares successes

Product reduces TPH levels to non-hazardous status

November 27, 2024

Hospital Mergers Fail to Deliver Better Care or Lower Costs, Study Finds todayheadline

December 31, 2024

Police ID man who died after Corso Italia fight

December 23, 2024
Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power

Harris tells supporters ‘never give up’ and urges peaceful transfer of power

0
Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend's Mother

Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother

0

Trump ‘looks forward’ to White House meeting with Biden

0
Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

0
U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA)

Trump administration plans to gut Job Corps centers and judges and lawmakers are asking why todayheadline

June 6, 2025

Delta Collaborates with the Jane Goodall Institute and NMMST to Expand Coral Restoration Education todayheadline

June 6, 2025

Sri Lanka-based Teejay using geographical flexibility to survive US tariffs todayheadline

June 6, 2025

Chart: California is wasting more and more clean energy

June 6, 2025

Recent News

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA)

Trump administration plans to gut Job Corps centers and judges and lawmakers are asking why todayheadline

June 6, 2025
5

Delta Collaborates with the Jane Goodall Institute and NMMST to Expand Coral Restoration Education todayheadline

June 6, 2025
5

Sri Lanka-based Teejay using geographical flexibility to survive US tariffs todayheadline

June 6, 2025
5

Chart: California is wasting more and more clean energy

June 6, 2025
6

TodayHeadline is a dynamic news website dedicated to delivering up-to-date and comprehensive news coverage from around the globe.

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Basketball
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Change
  • Crime & Justice
  • Cybersecurity
  • Economic Policies
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Environmental Policies
  • Europe
  • Football
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Health
  • Medical Research
  • Mental Health
  • Middle East
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Politics
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Science & Environment
  • Software & Apps
  • Space Exploration
  • Sports
  • Stock Market
  • Technology & Startups
  • Tennis
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Us & Canada
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • World News

Recent News

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA)

Trump administration plans to gut Job Corps centers and judges and lawmakers are asking why todayheadline

June 6, 2025

Delta Collaborates with the Jane Goodall Institute and NMMST to Expand Coral Restoration Education todayheadline

June 6, 2025
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
  • Technology & Startups
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2024 Todayheadline.co

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Business & Finance
  • Corporate News
  • Economic Policies
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Market Trends
  • Crime & Justice
  • Court Cases
  • Criminal Investigations
  • Cybercrime
  • Legal Reforms
  • Policing
  • Education
  • Higher Education
  • Online Learning
  • Entertainment
  • Awards & Festivals
  • Celebrity News
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Health
  • Fitness & Nutrition
  • Medical Breakthroughs
  • Mental Health
  • Pandemic Updates
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Food & Drink
  • Home & Living
  • Politics
  • Elections
  • Government Policies
  • International Relations
  • Legislative News
  • Political Parties
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Middle East
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Industry Analysis
  • Basketball
  • Football
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Climate Change
  • Environmental Policies
  • Medical Research
  • Science & Environment
  • Space Exploration
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • Sports
  • Tennis
  • Technology & Startups
  • Software & Apps
  • Startup Success Stories
  • Startups & Innovations
  • Tech Regulations
  • Venture Capital
  • Uncategorized
  • World News
  • Us & Canada
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Travel
  • Research & Innovation
  • Scholarships & Grants
  • School Reforms
  • Stock Market
  • TV & Streaming
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
  • About us
  • Contact

© 2024 Todayheadline.co