Kentucky man jailed for nine years after faking death to avoid child support

Prosecutors said Jesse Kipf - who was divorced in 2008 - used the login details of a doctor to register himself as deceased in Hawaii.

By Dylan Donnelly, Sky News reporter, Thursday August 22, 2024

https://news.sky.com/story/kentucky-man-jailed-for-nine-years-after-faking-death-to-avoid-child-support-13201159

Jessie Kipf. Pic: Grayson County Detention Center

A man was jailed after faking his own death in a bid to avoid paying child support, prosecutors have said.

Jesse Kipf, 39, of Somerset, Kentucky, was sentenced to nine years in prison for computer fraud and aggravated identity theft after he attempted to skip out on his outstanding child support obligations.

Carlton Shier, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said in a statement that Kipf accessed Hawaii's death registry system in January last year.

Using login details from a doctor living in another part of the US, the 39-year-old created a case for his own death and completed a worksheet for a death certificate in the Aloha State.

As a result, Kipf was registered as a deceased person in several government databases.

He also accessed other state registry systems and private networks using credentials stolen from real people and attempted to sell the access on the dark web.

After his arrest in November, he admitted he did this in part to avoid paying child support. Kipf then pleaded guilty to both charges in April.

In a statement, Mr Shier said: "This scheme was a cynical and destructive effort, based in part on the inexcusable goal of avoiding his child support obligations.

"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 cybercriminals, and he will face the consequences of his disgraceful conduct."

According to court records, Kipf became divorced in 2008 and was deployed to Iraq for nearly a year between 2007 and 2008.

The Eastern District of Kentucky also ordered Kipf to pay more than $195,000 in restitution for damage to computer systems and the remaining total of his child support.