A man in Kentucky did everything he could to avoid paying more than $100,000 in back child support. Now he faces years in prison and fines that could be much higher than that amount. According to NBC News, Jesse E. Kipf, 39, recently signed a plea deal in which he admitted to staging his own death as part of a plan that began in January 2023.
Law & Crime says that Kipf got into Hawaii's death record system with passwords that were stolen from a doctor in another state and made a fake death certificate for himself. "The defendant also infiltrated other states' death registry systems using credentials he stole from other real people," the plea deal says. Several government records ended up showing that he was dead.
In addition to the $79,000 in losses to government and business networks, his ex-wife lost more than $116,000 in damages. In a different plan, he used stolen passwords to get into other networks and try to sell other people access to those networks. In exchange for admitting blame to one count of severe identity theft and one count of computer fraud, he agreed to pay the money back. He could have spent more than thirty years in prison on the original charges against him. As part of his plea deal, he could spend up to seven years in prison and pay a fine of up to $500,000. The judge will decide on April 12.
Law & Crime says that Kipf got into Hawaii's death record system with passwords that were stolen from a doctor in another state and made a fake death certificate for himself. "The defendant also infiltrated other states' death registry systems using credentials he stole from other real people," the plea deal says. Several government records ended up showing that he was dead.
In addition to the $79,000 in losses to government and business networks, his ex-wife lost more than $116,000 in damages. In a different plan, he used stolen passwords to get into other networks and try to sell other people access to those networks. In exchange for admitting blame to one count of severe identity theft and one count of computer fraud, he agreed to pay the money back. He could have spent more than thirty years in prison on the original charges against him. As part of his plea deal, he could spend up to seven years in prison and pay a fine of up to $500,000. The judge will decide on April 12.
