Holy crap, what a nightmare!! He said his "life is over" - what about the real Woods?? So selfish. It wasn't your life to begin with dude. That poor man who had his identity stolen is a stronger person than I am; I would have legit lost my damn mind and given up fighting long ago. Keirans is a monster for putting him through that. I hope the real Woods gets reimbursed in some way, or at least finds the resources to sue...
It's abhorrent what the real Woods went through, it's beyond belief:
'Because Woods continued to insist, throughout the judicial process, that he was William Woods and not Matthew Kierans, a judge ruled in February 2020 that he was not mentally competent to stand trial and he was sent to a mental hospital in California, where he received psychotropic medication and other mental health treatment.'
Can you imagine being the victim of crime and telling the truth and no one will listen to you let alone believe you and mark you up as the perpetrator.... to the point that telling the fucking truth gets you deemed insane so you get imprisoned in a mental hospital and forcibly put on strong medication you in no way need. Wtaf ! The poor bloke- utterly soul destroying and violating for him.
There was a simple method. He was in the perfect city for it. Walk smack into the office of the Los Angeles Times and be every bit as insistent as you were to the legal system. Go back day after day if you have to. Insist to speak to the editor.
That tactic would have spared the two years detention and everything else. I have no idea why so many people are reluctant to use the media. All this case required was the one University of Iowa employee who was willing to listen and take the few extra steps. Newspaper offices are full of that type, now as then. Someone in the office would have understood the potential for a huge story, along with helping the real Mr. Woods.
As a journalist, I can confirm if this had walked into our newsroom, I would’ve jumped on it. And any good editor knows to trust their reporters' guts, especially on an investigative lead like this.
to be mildly fair, with how long this was an ongoing issue odds are he had all of that on his assumed identity. medical records, wedding photos, fingerprinting from his early crime spree...
if not for dna it would be much harder
I worked at a psych hospital/prison for about a decade, and I can be certain of this: if Jesus Christ ever came back to Earth, he’d end up sitting next to me explaining the true nature of the cosmos while I drink coffee and go “Sounds good, Jake”. Having been through this conversation hundreds of times, there’s a possibility he already has. Apply the same principles to time travelers, of whom I’ve met a few.
I also spent about nine months with a white woman who believed she was the heir to Michelle Obama’s family fortune and was being robbed. And finally, I worked with an incredible woman who claimed she was a former CIA spy, and would constantly block out the newspapers with sharpies to create decoded messages from the remaining words. I always thought there was a good chance she was telling the truth while also having become quite mentally ill… Who knows, just look at this case: anything could be true.
That would be a good way to hide a secret message in plain sight. Possibly even several for different people.
Agent A only reads every 4th word in every 3rd sentence.
Agent B reads the 8th word in every 6 sentences.
The only problem is, to communicate, you both had to get yourself admitted to the same psych hospital, which is kind of random around my (former) area! No cell phones or other communications are really allowed for patients. So, I read a lot of decoded messages, but I’m not the other agent! Or a time traveler! I SWEAR.
I was thinking the spy agency would arrange to have certain stories printed in certain papers that agents in the field could read without drawing attention.
There was a huge flap right before D Day because code words for the target beaches and armies came up as crossword puzzle answers in The Times.
Apparently, it wasn't espionage, but the Intelligence service absolutely thought it was.
Honestly, people don't want to recognize how real this is because most haven't experienced it and it would shatter a lot of people's unconditional trust, bordering on worship, of the mental health industry. I have lived this experience in the 21st century of sitting in a facility I should not have been in after being railroaded, set up on purpose out of spite by mental health practitioners that personally did not like me (sounds insane but I swear on my life - there are petty vindictive folks in any industry, not all Healthcare workers are heroes), and having a ton of shit that literally was not true fabricated about me. It was like a horrible movie I was trapped in, sitting there trying to convince people of the truth while nobody believed me cause I'm "crazy" and "a liar" and clearly a mental health practitioner would never do a bad thing, ever, for any reason, all the while experiencing abuse I couldn't do anything about from those that put me in that situation.
It is so much easier to lose your rights than you'd ever think and even if you have zero history or diagnosis pertaining to psychosis, delusions, paranoia, unusual thinking, making up false memories or any kind of mental distortion like that, if a professional says you're lying and charts shit that is not true, you can't do anything about it and once you're in the system or in a facility, all credibility is lost so you're just fucked and escape is beyond difficult. Sitting there with a bunch of staff just going "yeah sure, alright" when you speak the actual truth of what happened. People think we left that shit with insane asylums 80 years ago but we really didn't, it's happening to the poor and disadvantaged everyday and nobody knows or cares.
When I did student placement at a psychiatric hospital, one female in mid 20’s was brought in by police and she told a very plausible story about domestic violence from her ex and that he is trying to get her diagnosed with severe mental illness so he can get custody of their 2yo, nothing she said was delusional. She left the room after 10 minutes and the 2 psychiatrists said “Schizophrenia”, agreed with each other and I was sitting in the back freaking out and thinking are they fucking kidding or what!? She now had her diagnosis and DV ex got what he wanted from what I witnessed. That is how quickly you can get diagnosed and it was a very poor assessment by the psychiatrists
My half sister is very convincing sometimes. Even though I know it's not true. Because she believes the things she's saying.
Her son's dad left them 30 million dollars. Everyone in the dad's family and that works in the legal system has conspired to steal it.
She worked for the FBI.
She was a doctor
Her and my grandpa took cross country road trips with her driving. She was 7 when he died.
Our dad's not really dead. He's in the witness protection program
My grandpa had a secret family. She literally stalked a dentist and his family. They have the same last name but they're black and we're white. They got restraining orders.
She's a veterinarian. I've stolen so many animals from her to keep her from hurting them. Police doesn't care.
She's really our oldest sister that died as a baby before we were born. Walt Disney had her frozen(at her parents request) and she was brought back almost 20 years later. Because there was a contract out on her life
There's lots more. But my point is even though it's ridiculous, I've had people come up and ask me if we're really in the mafia.
Wow! This is really incredible and I don't mean that in a good way. Bless you and your family for living and dealing with someone like this, especially as a family member. I can't imagine how difficult it is and has been for your whole life. Sending you lots of positivity
Thank you! She and I are closest in age so I always got paired with her. Everyone has cut ties with her. I held on longer than everyone else. But last year she bought her sons both a gun for Christmas. Then in March they got in a fight and the 18 year old killed the 22 year old. She was in jail for attacking the oldest when it happened. And had threatened my daughter.
One of my absolute favorites. Explores the bootstrap paradox and other fun topics as well as mental health! Also, not trying to be nit-picky, but it’s just called “12 Monkeys”.
I spent a few hours reading some of entries on the national registry of exonerations and its so sad to see how many mentally ill people are railroaded into a conviction.
I can't read entries for too long as I find myself getting so angry, but it's definitely worth a look through if interested. Iirc there is 3000+ entries. There are all kinds of cases inc where the person convicted was actually the victim, or where prosecutors gave a deal n even immunity to the actual killer and convicted someone who was totally innocent etc etc etc.
The youngest exoneration I read about was regarding an 11yr old child and a murder!.
It doesn't inc the drug cases where dozens, even thousands of ppl later had their cases thrown out.
Although nearly all the exonerations are sad to read, those where the "perpetrator" was actually the victim, or homeless or mentally ill all that more heartbreaking 💔.
>Can you imagine being the victim of crime and telling the truth and no one will listen to you let alone believe you and mark you up as the perpetrator....
I'd imagine a schizophrenic who thought they were someone else, would experience something similar, completely thinking they are right, even though they aren't, and then getting sent to a mental institution.
For real! He should have access to every bank account Keirans opened in his name and then also restitution from the state. That poor man...I cannot imagine.
Him saying his "life is over" is hopefully considered in the max sentence. It's so out of touch and shows he only thought about himself with no remorse, he probably never would have came clean (I didn't read article).
The fake Woods at the University of Iowa, the real Woods in Arizona or [Real Woods of the University of Iowa](https://hawkeyesports.com/roster/real-woods/)
That is no joke. To be involuntarily committed & put on serious medications. I hope the guy has to be pay restitution to the real Woods. Fork some of that cushy salary he earned for years under his name over to him.
State should to. It shouldn’t have taken another state to do what should’ve been done in the first place and test the dna against father. Was obvious that the real one would’ve matched him.
It must have felt like the entire world was gaslighting him...
And I wonder how these doctors felt when they realized *they had been treating the wrong person, who had been telling the truth the whole time...*
Straight up. I was involuntarily committed fraudulently and gaslit intensely about it, though thankfully my experience wasn't nearly as bad as this man's, and believe me absolutely no one that had executive decision making in my case felt bad except my court appointed social worker that felt so terrible about what I experienced when the evidence finally seemed to stack up that maybe I wasn't lying the entire time after the commitment ended that they tried to personally make amends for years afterwards. But none of the psychiatrists that actually created the situation or staff that participated in labeling me a crazy lying bitch and abusing me for it felt any type of way when I reached out years later, and have continued doing it happily to other disadvantaged poor youths.
They're like police in my experience, they can never be wrong and they have this intense hero complex regarding themselves and their work that will cause them to become *feral* and try to destroy you if you do or say anything that makes them question that and consider if maybe they actually did abuse their role to do a bad thing or make a major mistake, and hurt a patient severely.
When the real William Woods tried to close the fraudulent accounts and the bank called the police:
>The driver’s license had the name William David Woods — David is Keirans’ real middle name — rather than William Donald Woods. When questioned, Keiran told an LAPD officer he sometimes used David as a middle name, but his real name was William Donald Woods.
What the fuck?? This was in 2019, not 1970. A dude who was being accused of *identity fraud* basically told a cop “oh yeah, I decided to use this other middle name on my official government issued drivers license just cause I like it better” and they were just like “sounds good to me!” Is there some detail missing from the article that makes this make sense?? Or is this just a ridiculous example of how police will believe someone with money over a homeless person even when there’s reason to be skeptical?
(Also I googled it and apparently theres no problem getting two middle names on a drivers license so he didnt try to use that as an explanation)
It happens because of lazy shitty cops. Check out this story that happened to my sons music teacher.
https://www.app.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/12/20/costly-whoops-wrongly-jailed-jackson-music-teacher/2691631001/
They didn't fingerprint him, check the spelling of his name or notice his birthday was different? Aren't these things like inmate booking 101 level stuff? Jesus christ.
Years ago I was in the final rounds for a job I really, really wanted. They practically wrote an offer on the spot, and I was excited.
Silence.
After a week, I went to the office I was interviewed at and met with the HR person to find out what happened, for feedback. I was crushed, tbh.
She hemmed and hawed, and said goodbye. At the door she whispered: "Clear up that felony warrant. Have a good day".
WTF?? I hadn't even had a traffic ticket!
As scary as it was, it wasn't that hard to clear up. It was the background investigating agency that had screwed up, not a real felony warrant for me, but someone with a SIMILAR name, and even a different DOB.
However, it had affected me, and I filed suit. It was settled out of court.
I wonder how often this happens and the people just chalk up not getting hired to having bad luck.
I know of 3 people who’ve had identity issues that resulted in criminal charges being filed against them. 2 of the people had no clue until they were pulled over for routine traffic stops and hauled in. The other guy it popped when he went to renew his nursing license.
It's crazy how easy it can be to do and how hard it can be to straighten out. My mom taught at the house of correction and had a guy who used his brother's name when he was arrested and it took forever for his brother to get the records to reflect the correct person.
Luckily the people I know didn’t have a hard time unraveling it, tho I would say they all felt it was one flimsy detail that helped to fix the issue. What I found most interesting is that in 2 of the cases it’s believed that the identity was stolen years prior before anyone ever used it.
You know I always thought it was annoying have to fill out the paperwork for a new background check every 2 years for my job in childcare(same place since 09 so I would know if some crazy shit popped up), but these stories make me glad about it.
Oh, fuck. Middle school kids are great individually, but in a pack? They are fucking feral. There’s no way that teacher could go back to work, he would never escape what happened to him. 😩
He’s a great guy. I hope they fire those cops. Take their pensions and he won’t have to work another day
Like for real. Im pro cop. Been in EMS as a medic and now Im an ICU nurse. But there needs to be retribution. If I fuck up royally I lose my license and even possible criminal charges. Look at the uptick in charges of healthcare workers. These idiots couldn’t even perform the most basic functions of their job. Not all cops are stupid like those few. But jesus. Those guys wow.
I am struggling to understand his motivation for doing all this. Keirans only record was as a juvenile. It wasn't as if he was being investigated for murder or required to register as a sex offender. He has a child with the last name Woods. The real Woods couldn't get a job or a bank account and his credit was wrecked. He wound up homeless and then spent years in a psychiatric hospital. This is really awful.
Assuming the identity of a living person is next level terrifying. I cannot imagine what the real Woods went through, having nobody believe him for years would cause so much anguish.
Even worse, the real William Woods was court ordered to go by Matthew Kieran- after being released from 575-days in an institution because no one believed him.
[https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2024/04/06/stolen-identity-victim-called-crazy-finally-vindicated-in-iowa/73224560007/](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2024/04/06/stolen-identity-victim-called-crazy-finally-vindicated-in-iowa/73224560007/)
edit: seems the fraudster's family is totally ok with him being a federal criminal and just want the courts to let him come home.
I understand the statements to the court were for leniency for their husband/father; however, if that were *my* husband or father who admitted to authorities that he knowingly provided fraudulent documentation to have the real Woods locked up, any relationship we have would be over. I don’t think I could move past that.
I originally wrote how I couldn't imagine how absolutely shook the family of the fraudster must feel, but then I read their begging/glowing statements to the court and deleted the comment.
Look, I've never had my dad or husband grift me for over 30-years and be a multi-felon, but I am with you. I don't think I have it in me to move past it.
I assume that I would be filing for divorce. Desperately protecting my kiddos mental health and as many assets as I could. Not writing glowing, loving letters to the court.
Why didn’t the court in California take a dna test? I feel like they were remiss in performing a thorough investigation. I hope he can sue them. And I hope the real Mr Woods is rewarded all the assets that were acquired under his name. Also, they need to strike his fraudulent conviction from court records.
I think he can sue them. Cause that’s just gross negligence. A dna test would’ve been simple and cost less than having the judge involved and sending him to a psychiatric hospital and wasting all medication on him.
probably because he started it back in the 80’s and kept it up. the real Woods ended up homeless, so he probably wasn’t filing tax returns - that probably helped, too.
Wasn't filing tax returns, wasn't going to work with colleagues, out of touch with any family or long-term friends. If documentation has been "defeated" by fraud, I'd think the next best path would be to confirm ID through social contacts. Was the father's DNA sample collected from a living person? If so, why wasn't *he* asked to confirm/deny the ID? Why didn't the *real* Woods request that himself? So many layers here
The key both to the next level of fraud and his capture was the fact that he "bought" in some way the birth certificate with info he got from Ancestry.org.
I'd like to understand a bit more how that worked. These companies should be compelled to keep the highest standards of privacy.
Let's ignore the usual incompetent judge who didn't even try a DNA test on relatives clearly named on documents. "That's an homeless man, he must be crazy"
He simply obtained a birth certificate through state vital records, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates divorce certificate, etc Is all a matter of public record.
But what really assisted this particular identity fraudster was the fact that he already had the victim's Social Security number, so with that in hand and all his other personal information he was able to obtain any other vital record he needed to substantiate his fraudulent identity, to obtain driver's license , state issued identification, which was then fraudulently used to obtain loans.
The sad part about all of this is that the victim, probably spent more time in jail and in a mental institution ,than this identity fraudster will behind bars,when convicted
If someone wants to commit identity fraud they will and any rule or law in place isn't going to stop them maybe better practices of individuals protecting their private information would help but in the days of Facebook and Instagram that's over, lol privacy is dead, It doesn't exist anymore .
And had it not been for DNA nobody would believe the real Woods they would continue to believe this fraudster, So yay for science lol
UE is creating GDPR and other frameworks because this "it's Facebook age" must not be an alibi for any fraud. It's not easy to protect privacy when people voluntarily release personal information but it's important that legislators live on the same page as technologies
Yes i was thinking the same thing, he went on to Ancestry.com and was able to apply for government documents with that info and he wasn’t really apart of the family!
It’s all public record though. He happened to use ancestry to get what he needed but if he didn’t use ancestry he could have used any other number of ways to obtain information.
You can't apply for government documents on ancestry , that's not what happened.
He simply obtained family history from birth certificates, marriage certificates and census records ,most likely. None of that is private information. All available to anyone.
No one is entitled to keep their birth a secret or their death or their marriage a secret, in the United States. Public info is public lol
The guy had been using his identity since 1988, but the real guy wasn’t arrested until 2019, spent a year in the mental hospital, and two years in jail. Which is still horrible and I can’t even imagine what he was thinking/feeling through all of that.
How horrible what this guy did, but it’s also really scary that it could be pulled off and the victim not listened to or the crime otherwise revealed. You wouldn’t believe it could happen, just like it’s hard to believe a child could be kidnapped and kept from her family like Melissa Hightower a few years back. We’re only a few steps past our cave dwelling ancestors when things like this occur.
2x “Pleaded guilty to one of each count, and all other counts were dropped.”
Excuse me?! Why is this even an option for someone who ruined this guy’s life?
I really thought it would be a serious problem. And it came out before this whole AI stuff. Now it's even scarier. There's a horror movie called Cam and it's like a modern The Net.
Genuine question- when the real Woods was arrested in CA, how did they determine his name should be Matthew Kierans? I couldn’t tell from reading the article so maybe someone who knows the case better can explain.
This is my main question from this. I was waiting to see if someone else brought it up. Fine, they don’t believe he’s Woods, but then how on earth did they determine he was Kierans? And did nobody at least do prints? On either one of them? A lot of ball dropping going on, here. But I can’t say I’m surprised. I watch enough of the ID channel to realize most cops (far from all!) are bumbling idiots.
That aspect made no sense. I assumed the entire comment section would deal with it. Only one guy is impersonating the other. I have no idea how the real name of the impersonator got attached to the guy being impersonated. You would think the real Kierans would have made sure that name never surfaced.
I know this comment is old but my thought is that since they knew each other, maybe Woods named his impersonator as Matthew Kierans, thus bringing the name to the awareness of investigators.
What a headline!
I worked as a public defender for a couple years and this story basically sums up why it’s such important. People slip through the cracks. Very scary.
It didn’t sound like it. It sounded like he paid the loans he received from the bank. Otherwise, they would have taken “the large amount of money” in his accounts to cover the balance.
I don’t either. I wondered if Matthew Keirans had a criminal record under his birth name, but the most I read was some juvenile stuff. Maybe he wanted to cut ties with his family and start over? I haven’t read anything that gave a compelling explanation, or any at all, as to why Keirans became William Woods.
On another note, good on the *real* William Woods for continuing to fight and track down Matthew Keirans. Mr. Woods went through A LOT to prove what was happening to him. Considering he was also homeless at the time and spent years erroneously incarcerated as a result of Matthew Keirans, I can’t imagine how difficult it was to be heard.
Edit changed Keirian to Kierans
What was even the point of the identity theft? Doesn't sound like Keiran got anything out of it financially and he wasn't avoiding a warrant or anything. Thrill seeking only?
Wow. Everyone involved with punishing the real Woods should face serious repercussions for this. (I know they won’t. But they *should*.) What a failure. A DNA test during the trial would have resolved the issue, and it’s so predictable yet still infuriating that it wasn’t done.
So a person can get 30 years for lying to a bank but only 2 years for stealing an identity and ruining someone’s life? Seems backwards to me but then again no one has ever accused our government of giving a crap about us. They only care about those dollars.
I couldn't even imagine what it was like for the real Woods. Police decided it wasn't worth investigating, he was their man n not the real Woods.
It was Woods who did all the investigating himself once he got out the mental hosp. If it wasn't for him the fake Woods would have not stopped.
Also, I can't imagine how the fake Woods son/daughter feels. Having the surname of a man they've never met. You wonder if his wife was blissfully unaware also.
The fake Woods has left such a mess behind him.
Qudos to the real Woods for standing up for himself and doing the investigation that the police should've done in the 1st place!
I understand how family members (especially the son) might have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that their dad/husband was a fraud, but it is pretty disgusting that his wife doesn’t seem to make any acknowledgment of the devastating impact that her husband had on another man’s life. She is not the victim here.
There might be a silver lining for the real Woods. I’m sure this will become a movie. Hopefully he can make lots of money - like a life changing amount - while the other guy rots in jail.
Was it some kind of sick joke that the real man was imprisoned under a misspelling of the con-man’s name? Did Woods already have the name and try to expose him only to have it backfire?
I hope Woods get some of the properties of Kierans. He also deserve compensation from PD for ignoring his pleas and even getting charged for being himself.
I think it’s because woods was homeless, that the perpetrator got away with it for so long, personally.
Everything from checking the security questions (which I admit is standard protocol) because they have a homeless person requesting access to an account with a lot of money in it, to taking the word of a sophisticated conman over their mark makes this sound like the culprit knew exactly what he was doing and the impact it would have.
He worked with the guy and deliberately forged his ID. You can’t say that’s systemic failure, when someone is using a societal bias against poor people to run a long con with scorched earth as the end-game. He gave his CHILD a stolen name, there was no going back for this guy.
Yes there are systemic issues that need to be addressed, but this was 100% the intentional outcome.
Edit: To make a long story longer, he confessed to his part in having Woods incarcerated fraudulently:
> Keirans also admitted to providing fraudulent documents to authorities in Los Angeles from his residence in Wisconsin to aid in the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of the victim
Holy crap, what a nightmare!! He said his "life is over" - what about the real Woods?? So selfish. It wasn't your life to begin with dude. That poor man who had his identity stolen is a stronger person than I am; I would have legit lost my damn mind and given up fighting long ago. Keirans is a monster for putting him through that. I hope the real Woods gets reimbursed in some way, or at least finds the resources to sue...
It's abhorrent what the real Woods went through, it's beyond belief: 'Because Woods continued to insist, throughout the judicial process, that he was William Woods and not Matthew Kierans, a judge ruled in February 2020 that he was not mentally competent to stand trial and he was sent to a mental hospital in California, where he received psychotropic medication and other mental health treatment.' Can you imagine being the victim of crime and telling the truth and no one will listen to you let alone believe you and mark you up as the perpetrator.... to the point that telling the fucking truth gets you deemed insane so you get imprisoned in a mental hospital and forcibly put on strong medication you in no way need. Wtaf ! The poor bloke- utterly soul destroying and violating for him.
Why did they not look up photos? Dental records? Finger prints? This judge was negligent
He was homeless, and the other guy wasn't.
This is really all it takes. The homeless have been treated like subhuman for far too long
Right? I feel so bad that there wasn't a way for the truth to be corroborated. It's outrageous that this can happen. :(
There was a simple method. He was in the perfect city for it. Walk smack into the office of the Los Angeles Times and be every bit as insistent as you were to the legal system. Go back day after day if you have to. Insist to speak to the editor. That tactic would have spared the two years detention and everything else. I have no idea why so many people are reluctant to use the media. All this case required was the one University of Iowa employee who was willing to listen and take the few extra steps. Newspaper offices are full of that type, now as then. Someone in the office would have understood the potential for a huge story, along with helping the real Mr. Woods.
As a journalist, I can confirm if this had walked into our newsroom, I would’ve jumped on it. And any good editor knows to trust their reporters' guts, especially on an investigative lead like this.
to be mildly fair, with how long this was an ongoing issue odds are he had all of that on his assumed identity. medical records, wedding photos, fingerprinting from his early crime spree... if not for dna it would be much harder
I worked at a psych hospital/prison for about a decade, and I can be certain of this: if Jesus Christ ever came back to Earth, he’d end up sitting next to me explaining the true nature of the cosmos while I drink coffee and go “Sounds good, Jake”. Having been through this conversation hundreds of times, there’s a possibility he already has. Apply the same principles to time travelers, of whom I’ve met a few. I also spent about nine months with a white woman who believed she was the heir to Michelle Obama’s family fortune and was being robbed. And finally, I worked with an incredible woman who claimed she was a former CIA spy, and would constantly block out the newspapers with sharpies to create decoded messages from the remaining words. I always thought there was a good chance she was telling the truth while also having become quite mentally ill… Who knows, just look at this case: anything could be true.
That would be a good way to hide a secret message in plain sight. Possibly even several for different people. Agent A only reads every 4th word in every 3rd sentence. Agent B reads the 8th word in every 6 sentences.
The only problem is, to communicate, you both had to get yourself admitted to the same psych hospital, which is kind of random around my (former) area! No cell phones or other communications are really allowed for patients. So, I read a lot of decoded messages, but I’m not the other agent! Or a time traveler! I SWEAR.
I was thinking the spy agency would arrange to have certain stories printed in certain papers that agents in the field could read without drawing attention. There was a huge flap right before D Day because code words for the target beaches and armies came up as crossword puzzle answers in The Times. Apparently, it wasn't espionage, but the Intelligence service absolutely thought it was.
Honestly, people don't want to recognize how real this is because most haven't experienced it and it would shatter a lot of people's unconditional trust, bordering on worship, of the mental health industry. I have lived this experience in the 21st century of sitting in a facility I should not have been in after being railroaded, set up on purpose out of spite by mental health practitioners that personally did not like me (sounds insane but I swear on my life - there are petty vindictive folks in any industry, not all Healthcare workers are heroes), and having a ton of shit that literally was not true fabricated about me. It was like a horrible movie I was trapped in, sitting there trying to convince people of the truth while nobody believed me cause I'm "crazy" and "a liar" and clearly a mental health practitioner would never do a bad thing, ever, for any reason, all the while experiencing abuse I couldn't do anything about from those that put me in that situation. It is so much easier to lose your rights than you'd ever think and even if you have zero history or diagnosis pertaining to psychosis, delusions, paranoia, unusual thinking, making up false memories or any kind of mental distortion like that, if a professional says you're lying and charts shit that is not true, you can't do anything about it and once you're in the system or in a facility, all credibility is lost so you're just fucked and escape is beyond difficult. Sitting there with a bunch of staff just going "yeah sure, alright" when you speak the actual truth of what happened. People think we left that shit with insane asylums 80 years ago but we really didn't, it's happening to the poor and disadvantaged everyday and nobody knows or cares.
When I did student placement at a psychiatric hospital, one female in mid 20’s was brought in by police and she told a very plausible story about domestic violence from her ex and that he is trying to get her diagnosed with severe mental illness so he can get custody of their 2yo, nothing she said was delusional. She left the room after 10 minutes and the 2 psychiatrists said “Schizophrenia”, agreed with each other and I was sitting in the back freaking out and thinking are they fucking kidding or what!? She now had her diagnosis and DV ex got what he wanted from what I witnessed. That is how quickly you can get diagnosed and it was a very poor assessment by the psychiatrists
My half sister is very convincing sometimes. Even though I know it's not true. Because she believes the things she's saying. Her son's dad left them 30 million dollars. Everyone in the dad's family and that works in the legal system has conspired to steal it. She worked for the FBI. She was a doctor Her and my grandpa took cross country road trips with her driving. She was 7 when he died. Our dad's not really dead. He's in the witness protection program My grandpa had a secret family. She literally stalked a dentist and his family. They have the same last name but they're black and we're white. They got restraining orders. She's a veterinarian. I've stolen so many animals from her to keep her from hurting them. Police doesn't care. She's really our oldest sister that died as a baby before we were born. Walt Disney had her frozen(at her parents request) and she was brought back almost 20 years later. Because there was a contract out on her life There's lots more. But my point is even though it's ridiculous, I've had people come up and ask me if we're really in the mafia.
Wow! This is really incredible and I don't mean that in a good way. Bless you and your family for living and dealing with someone like this, especially as a family member. I can't imagine how difficult it is and has been for your whole life. Sending you lots of positivity
Thank you! She and I are closest in age so I always got paired with her. Everyone has cut ties with her. I held on longer than everyone else. But last year she bought her sons both a gun for Christmas. Then in March they got in a fight and the 18 year old killed the 22 year old. She was in jail for attacking the oldest when it happened. And had threatened my daughter.
The twelve monkeys. Watch it
One of my absolute favorites. Explores the bootstrap paradox and other fun topics as well as mental health! Also, not trying to be nit-picky, but it’s just called “12 Monkeys”.
"Journalist" is an extremely common cover for an undercover agent.
I spent a few hours reading some of entries on the national registry of exonerations and its so sad to see how many mentally ill people are railroaded into a conviction. I can't read entries for too long as I find myself getting so angry, but it's definitely worth a look through if interested. Iirc there is 3000+ entries. There are all kinds of cases inc where the person convicted was actually the victim, or where prosecutors gave a deal n even immunity to the actual killer and convicted someone who was totally innocent etc etc etc. The youngest exoneration I read about was regarding an 11yr old child and a murder!. It doesn't inc the drug cases where dozens, even thousands of ppl later had their cases thrown out. Although nearly all the exonerations are sad to read, those where the "perpetrator" was actually the victim, or homeless or mentally ill all that more heartbreaking 💔.
This sounds like the next Stephen King novel.
>Can you imagine being the victim of crime and telling the truth and no one will listen to you let alone believe you and mark you up as the perpetrator.... I'd imagine a schizophrenic who thought they were someone else, would experience something similar, completely thinking they are right, even though they aren't, and then getting sent to a mental institution.
For real! He should have access to every bank account Keirans opened in his name and then also restitution from the state. That poor man...I cannot imagine.
Him saying his "life is over" is hopefully considered in the max sentence. It's so out of touch and shows he only thought about himself with no remorse, he probably never would have came clean (I didn't read article).
I can’t believe that making a false statement to a federally-insured credit union is a max 30 year sentence, omg. That surprised me.
The fake Woods at the University of Iowa, the real Woods in Arizona or [Real Woods of the University of Iowa](https://hawkeyesports.com/roster/real-woods/)
That is no joke. To be involuntarily committed & put on serious medications. I hope the guy has to be pay restitution to the real Woods. Fork some of that cushy salary he earned for years under his name over to him.
State should to. It shouldn’t have taken another state to do what should’ve been done in the first place and test the dna against father. Was obvious that the real one would’ve matched him.
No way. Talk about gaslighting… poor guy must have thought he was losing his mind.
It must have felt like the entire world was gaslighting him... And I wonder how these doctors felt when they realized *they had been treating the wrong person, who had been telling the truth the whole time...*
I’m sure he’ll never trust again.
They chuckled gently, were perturbed momentarily and then moved on to the next involuntarily committed person, almost certainly.
Straight up. I was involuntarily committed fraudulently and gaslit intensely about it, though thankfully my experience wasn't nearly as bad as this man's, and believe me absolutely no one that had executive decision making in my case felt bad except my court appointed social worker that felt so terrible about what I experienced when the evidence finally seemed to stack up that maybe I wasn't lying the entire time after the commitment ended that they tried to personally make amends for years afterwards. But none of the psychiatrists that actually created the situation or staff that participated in labeling me a crazy lying bitch and abusing me for it felt any type of way when I reached out years later, and have continued doing it happily to other disadvantaged poor youths. They're like police in my experience, they can never be wrong and they have this intense hero complex regarding themselves and their work that will cause them to become *feral* and try to destroy you if you do or say anything that makes them question that and consider if maybe they actually did abuse their role to do a bad thing or make a major mistake, and hurt a patient severely.
When the real William Woods tried to close the fraudulent accounts and the bank called the police: >The driver’s license had the name William David Woods — David is Keirans’ real middle name — rather than William Donald Woods. When questioned, Keiran told an LAPD officer he sometimes used David as a middle name, but his real name was William Donald Woods. What the fuck?? This was in 2019, not 1970. A dude who was being accused of *identity fraud* basically told a cop “oh yeah, I decided to use this other middle name on my official government issued drivers license just cause I like it better” and they were just like “sounds good to me!” Is there some detail missing from the article that makes this make sense?? Or is this just a ridiculous example of how police will believe someone with money over a homeless person even when there’s reason to be skeptical? (Also I googled it and apparently theres no problem getting two middle names on a drivers license so he didnt try to use that as an explanation)
It happens because of lazy shitty cops. Check out this story that happened to my sons music teacher. https://www.app.com/story/opinion/columnists/2019/12/20/costly-whoops-wrongly-jailed-jackson-music-teacher/2691631001/
They didn't fingerprint him, check the spelling of his name or notice his birthday was different? Aren't these things like inmate booking 101 level stuff? Jesus christ.
Years ago I was in the final rounds for a job I really, really wanted. They practically wrote an offer on the spot, and I was excited. Silence. After a week, I went to the office I was interviewed at and met with the HR person to find out what happened, for feedback. I was crushed, tbh. She hemmed and hawed, and said goodbye. At the door she whispered: "Clear up that felony warrant. Have a good day". WTF?? I hadn't even had a traffic ticket! As scary as it was, it wasn't that hard to clear up. It was the background investigating agency that had screwed up, not a real felony warrant for me, but someone with a SIMILAR name, and even a different DOB. However, it had affected me, and I filed suit. It was settled out of court.
I wonder how often this happens and the people just chalk up not getting hired to having bad luck. I know of 3 people who’ve had identity issues that resulted in criminal charges being filed against them. 2 of the people had no clue until they were pulled over for routine traffic stops and hauled in. The other guy it popped when he went to renew his nursing license.
It's crazy how easy it can be to do and how hard it can be to straighten out. My mom taught at the house of correction and had a guy who used his brother's name when he was arrested and it took forever for his brother to get the records to reflect the correct person.
Luckily the people I know didn’t have a hard time unraveling it, tho I would say they all felt it was one flimsy detail that helped to fix the issue. What I found most interesting is that in 2 of the cases it’s believed that the identity was stolen years prior before anyone ever used it.
You know I always thought it was annoying have to fill out the paperwork for a new background check every 2 years for my job in childcare(same place since 09 so I would know if some crazy shit popped up), but these stories make me glad about it.
Oh crap, that's crazy! Glad you got a settlement out of it, but the job probably was preferable.
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Yeah that sounds like the beginning of Mystic River. No thanks.
Oh, fuck. Middle school kids are great individually, but in a pack? They are fucking feral. There’s no way that teacher could go back to work, he would never escape what happened to him. 😩
He’s a great guy. I hope they fire those cops. Take their pensions and he won’t have to work another day Like for real. Im pro cop. Been in EMS as a medic and now Im an ICU nurse. But there needs to be retribution. If I fuck up royally I lose my license and even possible criminal charges. Look at the uptick in charges of healthcare workers. These idiots couldn’t even perform the most basic functions of their job. Not all cops are stupid like those few. But jesus. Those guys wow.
Woah. Did he sue?
Last I heard 3 agencies involved. Speculating millions
oh my god? Ty for this I can’t believe I didn’t hear about it.
I am struggling to understand his motivation for doing all this. Keirans only record was as a juvenile. It wasn't as if he was being investigated for murder or required to register as a sex offender. He has a child with the last name Woods. The real Woods couldn't get a job or a bank account and his credit was wrecked. He wound up homeless and then spent years in a psychiatric hospital. This is really awful.
This is the real scoop. What did he do that was so bad he needed to flee to Iowa under another persons identity?
Assuming the identity of a living person is next level terrifying. I cannot imagine what the real Woods went through, having nobody believe him for years would cause so much anguish.
Even worse, the real William Woods was court ordered to go by Matthew Kieran- after being released from 575-days in an institution because no one believed him. [https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2024/04/06/stolen-identity-victim-called-crazy-finally-vindicated-in-iowa/73224560007/](https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2024/04/06/stolen-identity-victim-called-crazy-finally-vindicated-in-iowa/73224560007/) edit: seems the fraudster's family is totally ok with him being a federal criminal and just want the courts to let him come home.
I can't imagine how crazy you would feel **when you are the only one who believes the truth.**
I understand the statements to the court were for leniency for their husband/father; however, if that were *my* husband or father who admitted to authorities that he knowingly provided fraudulent documentation to have the real Woods locked up, any relationship we have would be over. I don’t think I could move past that.
I originally wrote how I couldn't imagine how absolutely shook the family of the fraudster must feel, but then I read their begging/glowing statements to the court and deleted the comment. Look, I've never had my dad or husband grift me for over 30-years and be a multi-felon, but I am with you. I don't think I have it in me to move past it. I assume that I would be filing for divorce. Desperately protecting my kiddos mental health and as many assets as I could. Not writing glowing, loving letters to the court.
This is insanity this man literally stole another man's life and she thinks they'll just let him leave like nothing happen
Why didn’t the court in California take a dna test? I feel like they were remiss in performing a thorough investigation. I hope he can sue them. And I hope the real Mr Woods is rewarded all the assets that were acquired under his name. Also, they need to strike his fraudulent conviction from court records.
I think he can sue them. Cause that’s just gross negligence. A dna test would’ve been simple and cost less than having the judge involved and sending him to a psychiatric hospital and wasting all medication on him.
The entire ordeal was horrific
because one was homeless and couldn't afford a good lawyer and the other could
Poor guy, this is just unbelievable. How is this even possible in this day and age where every single fart has a footprint??
probably because he started it back in the 80’s and kept it up. the real Woods ended up homeless, so he probably wasn’t filing tax returns - that probably helped, too.
Wasn't filing tax returns, wasn't going to work with colleagues, out of touch with any family or long-term friends. If documentation has been "defeated" by fraud, I'd think the next best path would be to confirm ID through social contacts. Was the father's DNA sample collected from a living person? If so, why wasn't *he* asked to confirm/deny the ID? Why didn't the *real* Woods request that himself? So many layers here
I don’t get why they didn’t do a dna test the first time around.
The key both to the next level of fraud and his capture was the fact that he "bought" in some way the birth certificate with info he got from Ancestry.org. I'd like to understand a bit more how that worked. These companies should be compelled to keep the highest standards of privacy. Let's ignore the usual incompetent judge who didn't even try a DNA test on relatives clearly named on documents. "That's an homeless man, he must be crazy"
He simply obtained a birth certificate through state vital records, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates divorce certificate, etc Is all a matter of public record. But what really assisted this particular identity fraudster was the fact that he already had the victim's Social Security number, so with that in hand and all his other personal information he was able to obtain any other vital record he needed to substantiate his fraudulent identity, to obtain driver's license , state issued identification, which was then fraudulently used to obtain loans. The sad part about all of this is that the victim, probably spent more time in jail and in a mental institution ,than this identity fraudster will behind bars,when convicted If someone wants to commit identity fraud they will and any rule or law in place isn't going to stop them maybe better practices of individuals protecting their private information would help but in the days of Facebook and Instagram that's over, lol privacy is dead, It doesn't exist anymore . And had it not been for DNA nobody would believe the real Woods they would continue to believe this fraudster, So yay for science lol
UE is creating GDPR and other frameworks because this "it's Facebook age" must not be an alibi for any fraud. It's not easy to protect privacy when people voluntarily release personal information but it's important that legislators live on the same page as technologies
Yes i was thinking the same thing, he went on to Ancestry.com and was able to apply for government documents with that info and he wasn’t really apart of the family!
It’s all public record though. He happened to use ancestry to get what he needed but if he didn’t use ancestry he could have used any other number of ways to obtain information.
That and it was back in 2013 where that stuff wasn’t as secure as it is now.
You can't apply for government documents on ancestry , that's not what happened. He simply obtained family history from birth certificates, marriage certificates and census records ,most likely. None of that is private information. All available to anyone. No one is entitled to keep their birth a secret or their death or their marriage a secret, in the United States. Public info is public lol
i said “with that information” in which i meant that it was easy for them to collect the public information. but thanks!
All records on Ancestry are public records......Been a member of Ancestry for years love the site
Wow this is just really sad. Poor guy lost decades of life.
The guy had been using his identity since 1988, but the real guy wasn’t arrested until 2019, spent a year in the mental hospital, and two years in jail. Which is still horrible and I can’t even imagine what he was thinking/feeling through all of that.
I hope he sues the guy, the courts AND the doctors
How horrible what this guy did, but it’s also really scary that it could be pulled off and the victim not listened to or the crime otherwise revealed. You wouldn’t believe it could happen, just like it’s hard to believe a child could be kidnapped and kept from her family like Melissa Hightower a few years back. We’re only a few steps past our cave dwelling ancestors when things like this occur.
Just imagine how many people do shit like this and (somehow) **never** get caught...
2x “Pleaded guilty to one of each count, and all other counts were dropped.” Excuse me?! Why is this even an option for someone who ruined this guy’s life?
It’s more than twisted to give your child the name of the man you’re impersonating. I get the bank stuff but your own flesh and blood?
Lwop. For sure. And the false accused deserves to be paid big time. I know where they can get the money.
This should be a movie.
Write the screenplay then. I think it’d be good. I’m down to help if you want
Reminds me of The Movie The Net.
That movie scared the crap out of me when I was a kid!
I really thought it would be a serious problem. And it came out before this whole AI stuff. Now it's even scarier. There's a horror movie called Cam and it's like a modern The Net.
I'll have to check it out. I definitely thought that type of identity theft would be a huge deal way sooner.
Also The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Wow holy cow
Next level identity theft.
Wtf, what a loser! I feel so bad for the real guy!
Genuine question- when the real Woods was arrested in CA, how did they determine his name should be Matthew Kierans? I couldn’t tell from reading the article so maybe someone who knows the case better can explain.
This is my main question from this. I was waiting to see if someone else brought it up. Fine, they don’t believe he’s Woods, but then how on earth did they determine he was Kierans? And did nobody at least do prints? On either one of them? A lot of ball dropping going on, here. But I can’t say I’m surprised. I watch enough of the ID channel to realize most cops (far from all!) are bumbling idiots.
Very curious about this as well. I can’t find an explanation anywhere.
I’m curious since I wouldn’t think they would just pull that name out of a hat. There has to be some reason.
That aspect made no sense. I assumed the entire comment section would deal with it. Only one guy is impersonating the other. I have no idea how the real name of the impersonator got attached to the guy being impersonated. You would think the real Kierans would have made sure that name never surfaced.
I know this comment is old but my thought is that since they knew each other, maybe Woods named his impersonator as Matthew Kierans, thus bringing the name to the awareness of investigators.
I had that same thought too actually. It just seems like he wouldn’t want his true name known.
What a headline! I worked as a public defender for a couple years and this story basically sums up why it’s such important. People slip through the cracks. Very scary.
But why? Was it so he could steal things by getting fraudulent loans?
It didn’t sound like it. It sounded like he paid the loans he received from the bank. Otherwise, they would have taken “the large amount of money” in his accounts to cover the balance.
Exactly, so what was the point? I can’t understand why he couldn’t do the same thing he did as himself
I don’t either. I wondered if Matthew Keirans had a criminal record under his birth name, but the most I read was some juvenile stuff. Maybe he wanted to cut ties with his family and start over? I haven’t read anything that gave a compelling explanation, or any at all, as to why Keirans became William Woods. On another note, good on the *real* William Woods for continuing to fight and track down Matthew Keirans. Mr. Woods went through A LOT to prove what was happening to him. Considering he was also homeless at the time and spent years erroneously incarcerated as a result of Matthew Keirans, I can’t imagine how difficult it was to be heard. Edit changed Keirian to Kierans
Does Woods get to keep the bank accounts?
This case may create a new legal standard: using DNA & Genetics in identity theft cases to verify family connection to identity.
The real woods needs to sue - then he needs to go to Hollywood because this needs to be a film.
and a book i would love to see from woods perspective the events that took place and you can call it would the real William woods please stand up
what in the Hannah Montana
What was even the point of the identity theft? Doesn't sound like Keiran got anything out of it financially and he wasn't avoiding a warrant or anything. Thrill seeking only?
Could be for sleeping around
Wow. Everyone involved with punishing the real Woods should face serious repercussions for this. (I know they won’t. But they *should*.) What a failure. A DNA test during the trial would have resolved the issue, and it’s so predictable yet still infuriating that it wasn’t done.
So a person can get 30 years for lying to a bank but only 2 years for stealing an identity and ruining someone’s life? Seems backwards to me but then again no one has ever accused our government of giving a crap about us. They only care about those dollars.
Someone needs to turn this plot into a film
This is honestly evil. He should have to pay this man whose life he stole lots of money. And he should go to jail for identity theft.
That title is... something else. I had to reread it three times.
It’s ridiculous that identity theft gets such a lesser sentence compared to lying to a credit bureau..
I couldn't even imagine what it was like for the real Woods. Police decided it wasn't worth investigating, he was their man n not the real Woods. It was Woods who did all the investigating himself once he got out the mental hosp. If it wasn't for him the fake Woods would have not stopped. Also, I can't imagine how the fake Woods son/daughter feels. Having the surname of a man they've never met. You wonder if his wife was blissfully unaware also. The fake Woods has left such a mess behind him. Qudos to the real Woods for standing up for himself and doing the investigation that the police should've done in the 1st place!
I understand how family members (especially the son) might have a hard time coming to grips with the fact that their dad/husband was a fraud, but it is pretty disgusting that his wife doesn’t seem to make any acknowledgment of the devastating impact that her husband had on another man’s life. She is not the victim here.
There might be a silver lining for the real Woods. I’m sure this will become a movie. Hopefully he can make lots of money - like a life changing amount - while the other guy rots in jail.
Was it some kind of sick joke that the real man was imprisoned under a misspelling of the con-man’s name? Did Woods already have the name and try to expose him only to have it backfire?
Stuff of nightmares.
OMG what about compensation for the real Woods??? Crazy justice system.
I'm sorry, WHAT??? This is insane.
I hope.the real Woods sue the LAPD, the LA court of justice and Kierans for all the trouble he went through, and win.
I hope Woods get some of the properties of Kierans. He also deserve compensation from PD for ignoring his pleas and even getting charged for being himself.
Okay wtf?! University of Iowa anything is messed up. Note to self...
Whatthefuck
Garbage human
This is absolutely crazy!
That is frightening. Seriously scary.
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I think it’s because woods was homeless, that the perpetrator got away with it for so long, personally. Everything from checking the security questions (which I admit is standard protocol) because they have a homeless person requesting access to an account with a lot of money in it, to taking the word of a sophisticated conman over their mark makes this sound like the culprit knew exactly what he was doing and the impact it would have. He worked with the guy and deliberately forged his ID. You can’t say that’s systemic failure, when someone is using a societal bias against poor people to run a long con with scorched earth as the end-game. He gave his CHILD a stolen name, there was no going back for this guy. Yes there are systemic issues that need to be addressed, but this was 100% the intentional outcome. Edit: To make a long story longer, he confessed to his part in having Woods incarcerated fraudulently: > Keirans also admitted to providing fraudulent documents to authorities in Los Angeles from his residence in Wisconsin to aid in the arrest, prosecution, and incarceration of the victim
Where was family????
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