Jesse E Kipf, 39, on the hook for $100k in child support, faked his death and even created a fake death certificate for himself. The plan didn't work out: Kipf is off to jail and will owe a lot more than that.
Jesse E. Kipf, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of computer fraud in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky on March 29. According to the plea agreement, Kipf accessed the Hawaii death registry system in January 2023 using the details of a doctor living in another state and created a case for own death. He then "assigned himself as the medical certifier for the case and certified that case," which resulted in Kipf being listed as deceased in many government databases.
It sounds like a fairly complex computer intrusion case: he used a doctor's credentials to declare himself dead in a database, information which was then propogated to other state databases, and did likewise to various private and government systems. It's not clear from the story how he was caught. If the circumstances of his "death" suggest an investigation and exposure were inevitable, it also sounds like be boasted about it online and tried to sell the logins. The classic hacker-brain dilemma of needing to hide but needing to be seen.
Previously: Rhode Island man who faked death to avoid rape charge is found in Scotland
