IOWA CITY — One man seemed credible and one didn’t. But a police detective knew there was more to the story, which is usually the case by the time police get involved.
University of Iowa Police Detective Ian Mallory had two men claiming to be a victim of identity theft.
Matthew David Keirans, 58, of Hartland, Wis., and William Donald Woods, 55, of California.
One was a UI Hospitals’ IT systems lead. The other was a homeless man who may have been suffering from mental health issues and living in California.
Both claimed to be William Donald Woods.
Both acknowledged the other and either could have been him, Mallory told The Gazette last week. His challenge was to unravel the complicated identity theft scheme that spanned three decades.
Contrary to CSI shows, criminal investigations aren’t solved in an hour, Mallory said. It took him about a year of research.
This case of stolen identity began in 1988 when the man with the UI job, who turned out to be Keirans, had worked with Woods, the homeless man, at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, N.M.
Mallory had to comb through hundreds of police and government documents from Wisconsin, California, Idaho, Colorado, Oregon, Kentucky and Iowa to investigate both men’s backgrounds and criminal histories.
Mallory, 44, who received an award Monday for his investigative work from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which ultimately prosecuted the case, said investigative work is like peeling back layers upon layers of an onion and finding the “hows and whys.”
There were many points in the investigation when Mallory hit a brick wall and thought “this can’t be right.” He would then turn to his co-workers for help and advice when he found something and knew “no way this is real.”
The investigation showed Keirans took over Woods’ life, stealing his identity to acquire loans, credit and jobs. He even had a son under Woods’ name.
When the real Woods discovered someone was racking up $130,000 in debt under his name, he reported it to bank officials and wanted to close his account, but it resulted in Woods being arrested in 2019 and convicted in 2021 — serving 428 days in jail and 147 days in a mental hospital.
Woods pleaded “no contest” in exchange for time served and was released. But a judge ordered him to go by his “true name, Matthew Keirans.”
Over the years, Woods made numerous attempts to regain his identity, even contacting local police where Keirans was living in Hartland, Wis., but Keirans again reported he was the real Woods and the victim of identity fraud.
Detective didn’t know what to believe
In January 2023, when Woods learned Keirans was working remotely from Wisconsin for UI Hospitals in the information technology department, earning more than $100,000 a year, he reported Keirans to the hospital’s security department, and his complaint was referred to the UI Police Department.
Mallory admitted he didn’t know what to believe, but the “facts of the case don’t lie” and he couldn’t dismiss anything, especially a victim who had been “completely wronged, wrongfully accused and prosecuted and ordered (by a judge) to live under another name.”
Mallory said his supervisors “let me be me,” having a knack for digging into cases. He started working on the case in February 2023, and chipped away at it when he had time.
Mallory said results started materializing in May and June 2023, and he held the final key to the truth — two buccal swabs containing DNA.
He obtained DNA from Woods’ father in March and then from the homeless Woods in May 2023. The results proved Woods was who he had been telling bank, police, court and other government officials for 35 years.
Mallory said it wasn’t difficult getting Woods’ DNA sample because Woods said he would do anything to be vindicated. He encouraged Woods, who was living homeless on the streets, to go into the Santa Monica Police Department to let them collect the evidence. Mallory had set it up with an investigator.
“I needed him to trust them so we could get this proof,” Mallory said.
Woods did cooperate. After the results were back, Mallory went back for his second interview with Keirans, in July 2023. Mallory asked Keirans his father’s name and Keirans accidentally gave the first name of his own adoptive father. Mallory then told Keirans the results of the DNA evidence, and Keirans said “‘My life is over”’ and “‘everything is gone.’”
Keirans admitted that he had used Ancestry.com in 2012 to obtain Woods’ birth certificate.
Keirans pleaded earlier this month to one count each of false statement to a credit union and aggravated identity theft. He faces up to 32 years in federal prison.
An unexpected award
The “exemplary work” by Mallory, a UI detective for eight years, was honored with the Law Enforcement Victim Service Award.
“Detective Mallory did not dismiss Woods’ seemingly fantastic claims out of hand and instead spent the ensuing months unraveling Keirans’ identity theft scheme,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Vavricek said in his nomination letter. “Through his open mindedness, patience and diligence, Detective Mallory was able to successfully unravel a sophisticated, three-decades-old fraud that had fooled other police officers, courts, banks and government officials.”
Mallory, through his persistence, not only helped protect Woods from further “victimization” by Keirans, but he also protected UI Hospital’s information systems from being “guarded by a prolific identity thief,” Vavricek noted in his letter.
Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmermann Smith, during the ceremony, said it was no surprise that Mallory broke open this case because any time he has brought her a case it’s always “well investigated and well presented. It is a well deserved honor.”
U.S. Attorney Tim Duax, who presented the award to Mallory, said this was the “best investigation work” he’s seen in his more than 30 years as a prosecutor. Mallory treated the victim with “dignity and respect,” Duax said.
He also pointed out that Mallory was able to get the DNA evidence, which isn’t easy and usually expensive.
Mallory spent six hours interviewing Keirans and got a confession.
Mallory, during the ceremony, thanked those in attendance and gave a special thanks to Vavricek “for seeing the case for what it was when many others didn’t.”
He also thanked his wife for the many conversations and discussions about Woods and Keirans.
His mother and other family members and his work family also attended the event Monday.
Mallory said he couldn’t have closed this case without others in the UI investigation division who were key to helping him when he was stuck on the case and the forensic tech.
“The UI has been a fantastic department to work for,” Mallory said. “I love what I do and have a blast at work. This job brings both my love of technology and police work together.”
“I hope this award shows others that you can’t take the first story at face value and never be dismissive of someone just because they are homeless and may suffer from mental health issues,” Mallory said.
‘No one believed me’
Woods’ account of events was “all over the place,” but the factual documents and data points showed he was telling the truth, he said.
As soon as Keirans was in custody, Mallory said he called Woods and told him. Woods said “‘Cool. I told you so. No one believed me.’”
Mallory has never met Woods in person. After the federal prosecutors took the case, they flew Woods to Cedar Rapids to testify before a grand jury to indict Keirans, but Mallory was out of town and missed him.
Woods didn’t like the cold weather and didn’t want to stay long in Iowa, Mallory said.
Mallory said UI police are no longer involved in the case. He speculated it may be going on for several years in other states where Keirans lived.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
