In London, Kentucky, a man named Jesse Kipf tried to fake his death to evade paying child support by manipulating state databases and forging official documents, as per federal prosecutors. Kipf, aged 39 and from Somerset, was given a nine-year jail sentence after admitting his actions as part of a plea deal to avoid child support payments.
The elaborate plan by Kipf began in January 2023 when he unlawfully gained entry into Hawaii’s death registry system using someone else’s username and password, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky stated. Kipf then registered his supposed death in the system and even completed a death certificate worksheet in Hawaii, subsequently updating various government databases with this false information.
Additionally, Kipf was found to have accessed multiple state registry systems and private networks by stealing real people’s login credentials, allegedly trying to sell this illicit access on the dark web. Prosecutors confirmed that Kipf acknowledged faking his death with the primary motive of eluding his outstanding child support responsibilities.
Following his arrest in November and subsequent guilty plea in April for aggravated identity theft and computer fraud charges, Kipf was sentenced in U.S. District Court in London this week. According to court records, Kipf had been divorced in 2008 and had served in Iraq for nearly a year between 2007 and 2008.
In addition to his prison term, Kipf has been instructed to pay over $195,000 in restitution for the harm caused to computer systems and to fulfill his remaining child support payments, as stipulated by the government.
