Kentucky Man Sentenced for Hacking Death Registry to Avoid Over $100k Child Support Payments

A Kentucky man has been sentenced to over six years in prison after hacking state death registry systems to fake his own death and avoid paying over $100,000 in child support. Jesse Kipf, 39, pleaded guilty to computer fraud and aggravated identity theft charges. 

Kentucky man is sentenced 

In January 2023, he accessed the Hawaii death registry using a physician's information and registered himself as deceased, impacting multiple government databases. Kipf also infiltrated other state and private networks, stealing personal identifiable information and attempting to sell access on the dark web. 

The damages to the state death registry systems amounted to nearly $80,000. Kipf must serve 85% of his sentence and will be under U.S. Probation Office supervision for three years. He was indicted in November 2023 on five counts of computer fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft. U.S. Attorney Carlton S. Shier IV criticized Kipf's plot and emphasized the importance of computer and online security.

Kentucky man Jesse Kipf hacked state death registry systems to fake his death and avoid child support, resulting in a prison sentence and significant damages.