Man Who U.S. Says Faked Death to Avoid Child Support Gets 81 Months in Prison

A Kentucky man who prosecutors say hacked into state death registry systems to fake his own death — in part to avoid paying more than $100,000 in child support — was sentenced on Monday to 81 months in federal prison, the authorities said.

According to federal prosecutors, the man, Jesse Kipf, 39, of Somerset, Ky., hacked into the Hawaii Death Registry System in January 2023 with the username and password of a doctor living in another state to create and certify his own death certificate.

“This resulted in Kipf being registered as a deceased person in many government databases,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky said in a news release on Tuesday. “Kipf admitted that he faked his own death, in part, to avoid his outstanding child support obligations.”

In an arrangement with prosecutors, Mr. Kipf pleaded guilty in April to one count of computer fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Under the deal, other charges against him were dropped.

Prosecutors, who cited Mr. Kipf’s criminal history, recommended a sentence of 84 months in prison, while his lawyer recommended 72 months. Both sides agreed that Mr. Kipf should pay $195,758.65 to cover child support he had failed to pay as well as damages related to government and corporate computer systems.

Mr. Kipf, who was born in Hawaii, was divorced in 2008 in California and owed more than $116,000 in child support obligations to his daughter and her mother, according to court documents.