A father has admitted faking his own death to avoid paying more than $100,000 in outstanding child support to his ex-wife.
Jesse Kipf, from Kentucky in the US, stole the details of a doctor and used them to access the Hawaii death registry system in January 2023.
The 39-year-old was then able to create and certify a case showing that he had died, according to a plea agreement filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
The agreement states: “The defendant also infiltrated other states’ death registry systems using credentials he stole from other real people.
“The defendant faked his own death, in part, in order to avoid his outstanding child support obligations to his ex-wife.”
Kipf pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of computer fraud on 29 March 2024.
He also admitted to hacking into private business, governmental and corporate networks with information he stole from others and attempted to sell the access to the networks to online buyers, the court document states.
Kipf’s crimes resulted in more than $195,000 (£154,000) in estimated damages, including more than $79,000 (£62,543) in losses to governmental and corporate networks and more than $116,000 (£92,000) in losses suffered by his ex-wife.
He has agreed to pay restitution to all parties he wronged, according to the plea agreement.
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Kipf was initially indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2023 on five counts of computer fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft.
He was accused of illegally accessing state websites for Arizona, Hawaii and Vermont, as well as businesses GuestTek Interactive Entertainment Ltd and Milestone Inc.
Kipf was also indicted on two counts of making false statements on applications in connection with federally insured financial institutions for allegedly opening two credit accounts in 2020 and 2023 with a false social security number, according to the indictment.
These initial charges carried a prison sentence of over 30 years.
After taking a plea deal, Kipf faces a maximum of seven years in prison and up to $500,000 (£396,000) in fines, court records show.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for the afternoon of 12 April.
