A Kentucky man who faked his own death to avoid paying child support was sentenced to more than six years in prison Monday after he pleaded guilty to computer fraud and identity theft.
Jesse Kipf, 39, from Somerset, was sentenced to 81 months on Monday in federal court for computer fraud and aggravated identity theft, prosecutors said in a news release.
At the time of his arrest, Kipf owed his ex-wife more than $116,000 in child support, according to a March plea agreement. He also agreed to pay a total of nearly $80,000 in restitution to the Hawaii Department of Health and two private businesses.
Grayson County Detention Center
Kipf admitted that he accessed the Hawaii Death Registry System in January 2023 with the username and password of a doctor living in another state and used the doctor’s credentials to certify his death. As a result, he was listed as dead in other government databases.
“This scheme was a cynical and destructive effort, based in part on the inexcusable goal of avoiding his child support obligations,” U.S. attorney Carlton S. Shier IV said in a statement, calling Kipf’s conduct “disgraceful.”
Kipf also pleaded guilty to using the dark web to try to sell access to other death registry systems using credentials created under the identities of real people, prosecutors said.
HuffPost reached out to Kipf’s attorney but did not receive an immediate response.
“This case is a stark reminder of how damaging criminals with computers can be, and how critically important computer and online security is to us all. Fortunately, through the excellent work of our law enforcement partners, this case will serve as a warning to other cyber criminals, and he will face the consequences of his disgraceful conduct,” Shier said.
