A Pulaski County man has been sentenced for faking his own death to avoid paying child support.
Jesse Kipf, 39, of Somerset, was sentenced earlier this week to 81 months in federal prison for computer fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Under federal law, Kipf must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence.
According to his plea agreement, Kipf intentionally accessed a computer without authorization and then obtained information from a protected computer for his own private gain and in furtherance of identity theft.
Specifically, in January 2023, Kipf accessed the Hawaii Death Registry System, using the username and password of a physician living in another state, and created a “case” for his own death, prosecutors said. Kipf then completed a State of Hawaii Death Certificate Worksheet, assigned himself as the medical certifier for the case and certified his death, using the digital signature of the doctor.
This resulted in Kipf being registered as a deceased person in many government databases. Kipf admitted that he faked his own death, in part, to avoid his outstanding child support obligations.
Kipf also infiltrated other states’ death registry systems, private business networks, and governmental and corporate networks using credentials he stole from real people. He then tried to sell access to these networks to potential buyers on the dark web, an overlay network within the internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization and is commonly associated with the sale of illicit goods and services.
According to court documents, Kipf agreed to pay restitution of $3,500 to the state of Hawaii; $56,247 to Milestone Inc.;$19,653 to GuestTek Interactive Entertainment; and $116,357 to the California child support agency. He also agreed to forfeit his electronic devices and $16,218 in gold and silver coins.
“The damage to governmental and corporate computer systems and his failure to pay his child support obligations amounted to a total of $195,758.65,” according to prosecutors.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI, Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, Department of the Attorney General for Hawaii, and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
