Man from Kentucky receives over 6-year prison sentence for faking death to avoid child support payments

Jesse Kipf, a Kentucky man, was sentenced to over six years in prison for hacking into state death registry systems to fake his own death in order to avoid paying over $100,000 in outstanding child support. In January 2023, he accessed the Hawaii death registry system using stolen information and certified his own death using a doctor’s digital signature. He also infiltrated other networks and tried to sell access on the dark web, selling personal information to international buyers. The damage to the state death registry systems cost nearly $80,000 to repair and had untold consequences for individuals whose information was exposed. Kipf must serve 85% of his sentence and will be under supervision upon release. He was initially indicted on multiple charges, including computer fraud and aggravated identity theft. The U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Kentucky called Kipf’s actions “cynical and destructive” and emphasized the importance of computer security. This case serves as a warning to other cyber criminals, and Kipf will face the consequences of his actions.

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