Matthew David Keirans pleaded guilty in 2024 to using former coworker William Donald Woods’s identity for decades. He was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison in January 2025, and the Eighth Circuit upheld that sentence in April 2026. Woods, meanwhile, spent more than a year in jail and months in a mental hospital after authorities in California mistook him for Keirans.
How Keirans used Woods’s identity
Keirans and Woods met while working at a hotdog cart in New Mexico in the late 1980s. Woods later recalled that his wallet went missing in 1988. Beginning in 1990, Keirans used Woods’s name across personal, employment, financial and government records, obtaining identity documents, jobs, insurance, vehicle titles, loans and credit, and paying taxes as Woods.
From 2013, Keirans worked remotely for University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics under Woods’s identity, using fictitious identification paperwork. The Eighth Circuit’s account of the case describes an impersonation that reached far beyond a single credit account: it became the identity Keirans used in major parts of his life.
Why Woods was arrested and jailed
In August 2019, Woods, who was homeless at the time, went to a Los Angeles bank to report debts and accounts opened in his name. The assistant branch manager asked him about account-security details. Keirans, whom the bank contacted at the phone number on the accounts, answered the questions and said no one in California should have access to them. Police arrested Woods.
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The account holder’s security information appeared to support the person controlling the accounts, while Woods could not satisfy the bank’s verification process. That did not prove Woods was an impostor: Keirans had established and controlled the accounts under Woods’s name, then falsely represented Woods as the identity thief.
Authorities prosecuted Woods in California as Keirans. He spent 428 days in jail and 147 days in a mental hospital. In March 2021, he was convicted and sentenced to time served; the state court also ordered him to use the name Matthew Keirans. These custody figures are stated in the Eighth Circuit’s 2026 opinion.
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How investigators established Woods’s identity
Between January and July 2023, Woods contacted the hospital where Keirans worked. A detective investigated and used DNA evidence to establish that Woods was the biological son of the father he identified. When confronted, Keirans admitted that he had used Woods’s identity, created false documents and lied to law enforcement.
The difference between the California case and the later federal case is central: California had treated Woods as Keirans, but the renewed investigation established that Woods was the person he said he was and that Keirans had impersonated him.
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Guilty plea, federal sentence and appeal
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| April 1, 2024 | Keirans pleaded guilty in federal court to making a false statement to a National Credit Union Administration-insured institution and aggravated identity theft. |
| January 31, 2025 | He was sentenced to 144 months in prison, equivalent to 12 years, along with fines, restitution and supervised-release conditions. |
| April 23, 2026 | The Eighth Circuit affirmed the prison sentence and the challenged mental-health and substance-abuse evaluation conditions. |
The sentencing calculation described by the appeals court included an advisory guideline range of 12 to 18 months, followed by a mandatory 24-month term. The district court varied upward to 144 months. The appellate opinion quotes the district court calling the offenses “unique, unusual, and egregious” and saying Keirans was “manipulat[ing] the criminal justice system to prosecute an innocent man.” The Eighth Circuit concluded: “The district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing the 144-month term of imprisonment.”
Some early coverage and California records spelled the surname “Kierans.” The federal case and Eighth Circuit opinion use “Keirans,” the spelling used here.
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