A Kentucky father admitted to faking his death to avoid paying more than $100,000 in unpaid child support to his ex-wife, and his elaborate scheme could land him in prison.
Jesse Kipf, 38, pleaded guilty in federal court on March 29 to one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of computer fraud. law and crime.
According to one report, the U.S. Department of Justice opened the case against Kipf in November after investigators from the FBI in Louisville, Kentucky, the Hawaii Attorney General’s Office, and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office became aware of Kipf’s cyber crimes. press release.
Kipfu admitted that he filled out a Hawaii Death Certificate Worksheet in January 2023, where he created a false death certificate for himself and “assigned himself as the medical certifier for the case and certified the case.” did”.
Prosecutors argued that his desire to avoid paying “unpaid child support to his ex-wife,” as stated in his plea agreement, motivated him to commit the cybercrime.
The surviving father then used the stolen credentials to “infiltrate other states’ death registration systems,” according to the plea agreement.
“He applied a digital signature [the physician], providing his name, title, and license number. As a result, the defendant was registered as deceased in many government databases. ”
But his illegal online activities didn’t end with faking a death.
Kipf also used the stolen credentials to gain access to private, government, and corporate networks in an attempt to sell illegally obtained confidential information online to other criminals.
“In doing so, the defendant damaged multiple computer networks and stole the identities of numerous individuals,” according to the plea agreement.
Kipp was indicted in January on computer fraud charges stemming from data breaches of GuestTek Interactive Entertainment in February 2023 and Milestone Inc. in June 2023.
According to court documents, authorities estimate Kipf has suffered more than $195,000 in damages for failing to pay child support and accessing the network.
According to the plea agreement, the father who hacked the computer paid $3,500 to the state of Hawaii, $56,247 to Milestone, $19,653 to GuestTech Interactive Entertainment, and $116,357 to a California child support agency. agreed to pay compensation of $1.
He also agreed to forfeit electronic equipment and $16,218 in gold and silver coins.
Kipf was originally charged with five counts of computer fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft, which carried a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, until many of those charges were dropped after he took a plea deal.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 12 in federal court in Frankfort, Kentucky.
According to the plea agreement, Kipf currently faces up to five years in federal prison for the felony identity theft charge and a minimum of two years in federal prison for the computer fraud charge, both of which carry hefty fines of $250,000. It is said that it is imposed.
