April 7 (UPI) — A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty in a federal court to faking his own death in order to avoid paying about $116,000 in child support to his ex-wife.
Jesse Kipf, 38, confessed in court documents filed late last month and obtained by UPI to stealing the identity of a doctor living in another state and using their credentials to access the Hawaii Death Registry System. Kipf then created a “case” for his own death and certified it as the physician, whose credentials he stole.
“[Kipf] also infiltrated other states’ death registry systems using credentials he stole from other real people,” he admitted in the plea agreement. Kipf also pleaded guilty to related crimes, including the infiltration of private business computer systems and trying to sell that access to others.
Investigators seized nine storage drives, a laptop, and multiple cell phones from Kipf as well as $16,218 worth of gold and silver coins he purchased between December 2022 and September 2023.
Under the plea deal, Kipf pleaded guilty to two charges on his federal indictment, aggravated identity theft and computer fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and up to $500,000 in fines.
Kipf will now also owe restitution including $116,357 in child support to his ex-wife, as well as $3,500 to the Hawaii Department of Health and tens of thousands to two companies — Milestone Inc. and GuestTek Interactive Entertainment.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 12.
