IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – A former Iowa City hospital administrator pleaded guilty on Monday to an identity theft scheme that spanned three decades and caused the victim to be falsely imprisoned for nearly two years. Officials said 58-year-old Matthew Keirans, from Hartland, Wisconsin, pleaded guilty to one count of false statement to a national credit union administration insured institution and one count of aggravated identity theft.

During the hearing, attorneys presented evidence showing Keirans and his identity theft victim worked together at a hot dog cart in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the late 1980′s. Keirans used the victim’s identity for the next three decades, in every aspect of his life, obtaining documents and a Kentucky birth certificate in the victim’s name.

Keirans was hired at an Iowa City hospital as a high-level administrator in 2013, using these false identification documents. He then worked for the hospital remotely from his Wisconsin home. Officials described Keirans as the “key administrator of critical systems” whose role in the hospital’s computer infrastructure was “the highest it could be.” Officials said Keirens used the false identity to obtain eight loans with a value of more than $200,000 from two credit unions in the Northern District of Iowa between August 2016 and May 2022..

Keirans remains in custody. He faces a possible maximum sentence of 32 years in prison and a $1.25 million fine. A sentencing date has not yet been set.