Kentucky Man Faked His Own Death to Avoid Paying Over $100K in Child Support to His Ex-Wife: Officials

A Kentucky man has admitted to faking his own death in an attempt to avoid paying his ex-wife over $100,000 in child support, according to authorities.

On Jan. 20, 2023, Jesse Kipf, 39, used the login credentials of a doctor in another state to access the Hawaii Death Registry System and create a “case” for his death, according to court documents obtained by WDKY.

On Jan. 21, 2023, Kipf then forged the doctor’s signature, which resulted in Kipg being considered dead in many government databases.

Court records state he accessed other states’ death registry systems on several other occasions with stolen credentials.

Kipf has now signed a plea agreement, admitting to identity theft, computer fraud and faking his death, officials said. He said he faked his death, in part, to avoid his outstanding child support payments to his ex-wife.

He was initially charged with five counts of computer fraud, three counts of identity theft and two counts of making false applications for credit or debit cards at two banks. With the plea agreement, several of those charges were dropped, officials said.

Court documents state Kipf damaged multiple governmental and corporate computer networks to sell access to these networks online and stole the identities of numerous people.

Between the damage caused to the networks and the child support owed, the total loss amounted to $195,785.65, authorities said.

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According to court documents, Kipf agreed to pay restitution of $3,500 to the state of Hawaii, $19,653 to GuestTek Interactive Entertainment, $56,247 to Milestone Inc. and $116,357 to the California child support agency.

Kipf also agreed to forfeit his electronic devices and $16,218 in gold and silver coins.

He is set to appear before a federal judge on April 12. If the plea agreement is accepted, Kipf faces up to a total of seven years in prison.