Kentucky man sentenced to nine years in prison for pretending to be dead to dodge child support payments | US News
A man was imprisoned for fabricating his own death in an attempt to evade paying child support, according to prosecutors.
Jesse Kipf, aged 39, from Somerset, Kentucky, received a nine-year prison sentence for committing computer fraud and aggravated identity theft when he tried to avoid his outstanding child support responsibilities.
Carlton Shier, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, stated that Kipf accessed Hawaii’s death registry system in January of last year.
Using the credentials of a doctor residing in another US location, the 39-year-old fabricated a case for his own death and filled out a worksheet for a death certificate in Hawaii.
Consequently, Kipf was recorded as a deceased individual in multiple government databases.
He also hacked into other state registry systems and private networks using stolen credentials from real individuals and attempted to sell the access on the dark web.
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Upon his apprehension in November, he confessed that part of his motive was to avoid paying child support. In April, Kipf pleaded guilty to both charges.
In a statement, Mr. Shier remarked: “This scheme was a cynical and destructive endeavor, driven in part by the reprehensible goal of evading his child support obligations.
“This case serves as a stark reminder of the harm that criminals with access to computers can inflict, emphasizing the crucial importance of computer and online security for all of us.
“Fortunately, thanks to the outstanding efforts of our law enforcement partners, this case will stand as a cautionary tale for other cybercriminals, and he will face the repercussions of his disgraceful actions.”
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As per court records, Kipf was divorced in 2008 and served in Iraq for nearly a year between 2007 and 2008.
The Eastern District of Kentucky also mandated Kipf to pay over $195,000 in restitution for the damage inflicted on computer systems and the remaining balance of his child support.
