Wisconsin man lived 30 years under assumed name, landed top hospital job, until unmasked by DNA test

WAVERLY, Iowa — A ruse that lasted more than three decades could mean up to three decades in prison for one of two men claiming to be Bill Woods.

For years, the two men — identified in court records as “California Bill” and “Wisconsin Bill” — battled, contending they were the one, true Bill, and calling the other an imposter.

“Both Williams acknowledge the other persons’ existence and claim the other person is responsible for their identity being stolen,” wrote a University of Iowa Police detective who investigated the dispute, which involved opening accounts at Waterloo and Dubuque credit unions and a Waverly insurance company.

California Bill was homeless and destitute.

In contrast, Wisconsin Bill was successful, working remotely and commanding a $100,000 salary as a systems administrator for the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, a job that gave him the pinnacle of access to the hospital’s computer system.

So, it was no surprise Wisconsin Bill often came out on top in a series of legal skirmishes — skirmishes that sent California Bill to jail and mental hospital.

Those skirmishes ultimately reversed on April 1 when Wisconsin Bill pleaded to charges of false statement to a credit union and aggravated identity theft in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

The charges solidified Wisconsin Bill’s true identity as Matthew David Keirans, who had used Bill’s name and personal information to take out loans and land jobs.

Sentencing for Keirans, 58, of Hartland, will be at a later date. He faces two to 32 years behind bars and more than $1.2 million in fines.

Past is unclear

Not much is known about Keirans before he became Bill. He would later tell investigators he dropped out of school and ran away at age 16 to travel across the country.

Keirans had worked with Bill at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1988, records state. After 1988, there is no record Keirans used his real name, date of birth or Social Security number, according to court documents.

In Colorado, he obtained a fast food job under Bill’s name in 1990 and opened a bank account using Bill’s name and date of birth. The next year he paid $600 for a used car, passing checks with Bill’s name. The checks bounced; Keirans drove to Idaho, where the car broke down. He closed his bank account and left Idaho.

Colorado authorities obtained an arrest warrant.

In 1994, Keirans was in Salem, Oregon, where he met a woman who would become his wife. They had a son, who took Bill’s surname, and the couple moved about, with Keirans pursuing computer jobs. She obtained a graduate degree; the son went to college. They paid their taxes and lived a normal life.

The couple eventually settled in Wisconsin where Keirans — still using Bill’s name — worked at the corporate headquarters of a department store chain. When he landed the Iowa City position — passing a background check under Bill’s name — he would work in Iowa and then make the four-hour drive back to Wisconsin on the weekends. The pandemic solidified his ability to work remotely from home the majority of the time.

The real Bill

At some point, the real Bill, living in California, discovered Keirans was using his identity, living under his name and using his information to take out credit cards, and automobile and personal loans — loans investigators said totaled more than $200,000 over the years.

The person who had spent $600 on a broken-down car was now buying $20,000 Jeep Cherokees.

On Aug. 20, 2019, California Bill — the real Bill — walked into the Los Angeles branch of a bank where Keirans had an account in Bill’s name. Bearing his real Social Security card and state-issued ID, California Bill told the assistant manager someone was using his identity to take out loans. And while he was there, he asked to close out the bank account, removing all the money Wisconsin Bill had deposited.

The amount involved wasn’t immediately clear, but it was significant enough to prompt bank workers to ask a series of questions to verify if he was the one who opened the account. They were questions that California Bill couldn’t answer.

The bank manager called the phone number associated with the account and talked to Wisconsin Bill, who correctly answered the security question and said California Bill was an imposter.

Keirans then faxed copies of his Wisconsin driver’s license in Bill’s name and a copy of Bill’s birth certificate and Social Security card to Los Angeles police to establish his identity.

California Bill was arrested and charged under Keirans’ name. Prosecutors sought a competency exam because he kept insisting he was the real Bill, and he was ordered to a mental hospital and prescribed psychotropic medication, court records state.

California Bill ended up pleading no contest — not admitting guilt but acknowledging he would likely be convicted at trial — to identity theft as part of a plea deal. In all, he spent 428 days in jail and 147 days in a mental hospital.

As part of the sentence, the judge ordered California Bill not to use Bill’s name and only use Keirans’ name.

California Bill wouldn’t give up

California Bill apparently didn’t follow the order, and in August 2021 contacted Wisconsin authorities to complain that Keirans was using his identity and took up the matter with credit reporting agencies.

Keirans stuck with his story that he was the real Bill and filed his own complaint with Wisconsin police.

Meanwhile, California Bill went to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics where Keirans worked. The matter was passed to a University of Iowa Police detective who talked with Keirans, who insisted California Bill was “crazy” and “needed help and should be locked up.”

The detective then took an extra step in obtaining a DNA sample from Bill’s father in Kentucky — who went by “Billy” — to settle the matter once and for all.

The DNA results came back on June 20, 2023, proving California Bill was the true Bill. An FBI fingerprint check the following month confirmed Wisconsin Bill was the real Matthew Keirans, according to court records.

Confronted with the evidence, Keirans told the university detective “my life is over” and “everything is gone,” court records state. He went on to admit to using Bill’s identity in every aspect of his life including obtaining a copy of Bill’s birth certificate in 2012, according to court records.

In August 2023, Bremer County authorities charged Keirans with submitting a false insurance application and forgery in state court for a policy he took out from CMFG Life of Waverly using Bill’s identity in 2019.

Johnson County authorities filed similar charges for using Bill’s birth certificate to get the hospital job and for using a license with Bill’s name when he got a traffic ticket.