He stole his coworker’s identity for 30 years — then had him locked in a mental hospital

A Wisconsin man who stole his coworker’s identity for 30 years — and manipulated the justice system to have his victim jailed and forcibly medicated — has had his 12-year prison sentence upheld by a federal appeals court.

It began with a stolen wallet at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1988. Matthew David Keirans, then working alongside William Woods, took his coworker’s wallet briefly — and used the moment to copy Woods’ social security details. What followed was one of the most brazen and devastating identity thefts in American legal history.

Over the next three decades, Keirans built an entirely new life under Woods’ name. He married, had a child, opened bank accounts, and secured a well-paying job as an IT administrator at the University of Iowa Hospital, earning over $100,000 a year. Meanwhile, the real William Woods lived in obscurity, unaware his identity had been systematically stolen.

The story turned truly shocking in 2019, when Woods attempted to reclaim his identity. Keirans, in a calculated act of manipulation, convinced police that Woods was the imposter. Woods was arrested, spent 428 days in jail and 147 days in a psychiatric facility, and was forcibly medicated after a judge deemed him unfit to stand trial. He was even convicted and ordered to go by the name “Matthew Keirans.”

Justice finally arrived through DNA. After Woods contacted the University of Iowa Hospital in 2023, a detective used DNA testing to prove his true identity. Confronted with the results, Keirans confessed. “My life is over,” he said. A federal court sentenced him to 12 years in prison — a term a federal appeals court upheld this week, calling his conduct “unique, unusual, and egregious.”

As for Woods, he is back in Albuquerque working as a landscaper, planning to seek compensation for his wrongful imprisonment. “My main goal,” he said, “is to rebuild my life.”

READ MORE AT CBSNEWS