What if you were the victim of identity theft and no one believed you? That’s what happened to William Woods, who ended up behind bars in a Kafkaesque fiasco, while his scammer got away with using his identity for 30 years. It all came to an end on April 1st when Matthew David Keirans, 58, pled guilty in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa after being convicted of identity theft and making false statements.

Unbeknownst to Woods, Keirans assumed his identity after they had worked together at a hot dog cart in the late 1980s. Armed with his victim’s name, date of birth, and Social Security number, Keirans built a new life in Woods’ name. Over three decades, Keirans became a high-ranking hospital IT administrator, opened bank accounts, married, and had children. He even had $200,000 in debt in eight credit union loans, according to federal prosecutors.

Meanwhile, the real William Woods sank into homelessness. It was not until 2019 that he discovered someone had accumulated debt under his name. The homeless victim went into a bank in Los Angeles, showed the branch manager his ID and Social Security card, and said he wanted to close his personal accounts.

But bank employees thought this was fraud and called the police. Incredibly, the cops ended up arresting the real Woods for identity theft, asserting he was actually Keirans. From there, Woods’ woes snowballed. A judge ruled him incompetent and sent him to a mental hospital. He ended up spending 428 days in county jail and 147 days in the mental hospital, before finally pleading “no contest” so he could be released. Even then, the court wrongly believed his true name was Keirans.

Once he was released, Woods was determined to settle the score. He learned where Keirans worked and contacted the hospital’s security department. Ultimately, a local detective used DNA evidence to connect Woods to his biological father, which proved he was telling the truth.

The Washington Post said federal prosecutors did not reveal why Keirans wanted to change his name. But a spokesman told the paper that Keirans had a troubled childhood, which included a car theft and an arrest.

Now that Keirans has been convicted, Woods wants relief for himself. He told the Los Angeles Times that he’s considering a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles for the time he spent locked up. They should pay for every day I had to stay there,” Woods told the newspaper. “It isn’t right to be putting me in jail for nothing.”