A Kentucky man faked his own death to evade paying over $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife, as reported by the NY Post. Jesse Kipf, 38, pleaded guilty to charges of identity theft and computer fraud in federal court on March 29. 

The case was brought forward by the United States Attorney’s Office after a joint investigation involving the FBI, the Department of the Attorney General for Hawaii, and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office. His motive for these cyber crimes was to avoid paying

“his outstanding child support obligations to his ex-wife,”

the plea agreement states.

Kipf admitted to creating a fraudulent death certificate for himself and manipulating various state death registry systems using stolen credentials.

“He applied a digital signature for [the physician], providing his name, title, and license number. This resulted in the Defendant being registered as deceased in many government databases.”

But Kipf’s fraudulent activities didn’t stop at faking his death. He went even further by exploiting the stolen credentials to infiltrate private business, government, and corporate networks. He intended to sell the valuable and sensitive information he obtained to other criminals on the internet.

“In doing so, the Defendant caused damage to multiple computer networks and stole the identities of numerous individuals,”

according to the plea agreement.

According to court documents, Kipf is responsible for damages exceeding $195,000 due to his evasion of child support payments and unauthorized network access. He has agreed to pay restitution for these damages. Kipf now faces a potential maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for aggravated identity theft and a minimum sentence of two years for computer fraud. The plea deal also includes a hefty fine of $250,000 for each offense.

#Clique, what are your thoughts?