The former hot dog vendor who was falsely imprisoned when he became the victim of a three-decade-long identity theft case has spoken out and threatened to sue the city that locked him up.
William Woods spent 428 days in jail and 147 days inside a hospital after he was ruled unfit for trial because a judge thought his perception of his identity was twisted.
“They should pay for every day I had to stay there,” Woods told the Los Angeles Times. “It isn’t right to be putting me in jail for nothing.”
Woods had worked at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico for years when Matthew Keirans was hired in 1988.
The two reportedly got into a physical altercation after Keirans stole Woods’ wallet.
“I put my fist in his face, and he decided to hand me back my wallet,” Woods told the outlet, but he didn’t hit Keirans.
Woods, now 55, wasn’t too concerned with the workplace theft after he confirmed everything was inside the billfold including his Social Security card and birth certificate.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” Woods said. “I didn’t think he was actually going to do anything.”
Keirans, however, spent the next 40 years living as William David Woods, racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and bought a car under his unsuspecting victim’s name.
Keirans had his new, stolen name to help him with whatever he wanted including a new life in Colorado that eventually brought him to getting married in 1994 and having a kid, all while getting a job under Woods’ name at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, earning at least $700,000.
After he finished working at the hot dog stand, Woods recalled bouncing all over the country picking up odd jobs, such as a day laborer in El Paso, working at a laundromat in Las Vegas and before he landed in in Southern California.
Woods started out living in San Diego working a tech job, before he moved to Santa Monica in 2009, staying at area hotels and motels while selling gemstones, gold scraps and other jewels found on the streets, he told the newspaper.
Ten years later, Woods discovered someone had been using his credit and gathered a large amount of debt under his name.
The fraud victim had requested the accounts be closed, but couldn’t answer any of the security questions set up for William Woods’ accounts.
The skeptical bank employee eventually called the number linked to the accounts, and Keirans picked up, answering all the security questions correctly and informing the bank that no one in California should have access to the accounts.
Keirans also faxed over a copy of a Social Security Card, a Wisconsin Drivers License and a Kentucky Birth Certificate he created with information from Ancestry.com
The LAPD ruled Keirans’ documents were legitimate and arrested Woods for unauthorized use of personal information.
Woods was handed two felony charges from the District Attorney’s office under the name “Matthew Kierans” the incorrect spelling for the actual identity thief.
“People didn’t listen, and they didn’t know I was who I said I was,” Woods said. “They were painting it like I was crazy.”
“At first I kept saying, ‘I’m not guilty,’ but they wouldn’t believe that,” Woods said. “They wouldn’t believe it.”
He was convicted of felony charges in 2021, where he pleaded no contest and was released.
Upon his release from jail, Woods successfully reached out to the University of Iowa Police Department in 2023, where he got a detective to talk with Keirans.
When confronted by a detective, who had already conducted a positive DNA result between Woods and his father, Keirans initially lied and called Woods “crazy” and “needed help and should be locked up.”
Keirans was then told about the true DNA test, and he knew his scheme was over.
“My life is over,” and “everything is gone,” Keirans reportedly said, according to the LA Times.
Woods was described as “the most innocent type fellow you’ll ever want to meet,” by Eric Kilmer, the man who hired him to work the hot dog stand in the 1980’s.
During his interview with the newspaper, Woods reportedly rambled on, giving unbacked theories that the police were in on the identity fraud scheme, they wanted him in jail or they conspired with the banker to “put me in jail on purpose.”
Woods also reportedly spewed out random names throughout the interview.
Kilmer believes his former employee has been traumatized by the amount of people who took advantage of him, as Woods
“I think that since people were taking advantage of him over time, all these names stick in his head,” Kilmer told The Times. “He’s just trying to tie it all together in his own mind, I think.”
Woods is now back in Albuquerque living in a friend’s van, looking for a brighter future.
“What’s next for me?” he asked. “I guess I have to regain all my stuff back and just rebuild what I was.”
A motion to vacate Woods’ conviction has been filed, and a hearing is set for Thursday.