Kentucky father, a computer hacker, caught digitally faking his death to avoid child support obligations

It's bad enough that deadbeat parents exist -- the ones who do not follow through on paying their fair share of child support after a marriage is ended.

But what one Kentucky father tried to pull off to avoid his child support obligations is a whole new level of pathetic that's difficult to put into words.

According to the New York Post, Jesse Kipf, 38, a computer-savvy Kentucky father, went to great lengths to hack his way into government databases to make it appear as if he was deceased in an attempt to avoid paying his ex-wife's child support payments.

Kipf was ultimately caught in the wake of committing numerous cyber crimes, and recently "pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of computer fraud in federal court on March 29."

His quest to appear deceased -- at least on paper -- began when he faked a Hawaii Death Certificate Worksheet in Jan. 2023 and "assigned himself as the medical certifier for the case and certified that case."

Kentucky man admits to faking own death to avoid paying child support

Jesse Kipf pleaded guilty to computer fraud and identity theft after he created a fake death certificate for himself https://t.co/UXlJTGhP9U

— •spooky•girl•cassiopeia•™ (@sadgirlcassi) April 9, 2024

Prosecutors in the case said Kipf committed the cyber crimes in order to avoid "his outstanding child support obligations to his ex-wife," which totaled over $100K.

Kipf's hacking actions went far beyond the fake Hawaii death certificate. He also “infiltrated other states’ death registry systems" and declared himself deceased in as many systems as he could, using stolen credentials.

Using those same stolen credentials, Kipf reportedly accessed sensitive data from several companies and attempted to sell the data to other criminals on the internet, presumably the Dark Web.

"In doing so, the Defendant caused damage to multiple computer networks and stole the identities of numerous individuals," Kipf's plea agreement read.

The NY Post noted:

In January, Kipf was charged with computer fraud stemming from the data breaches of GuestTek Interactive Entertainment in February 2023 and Milestone Inc. in June 2023.

Authorities estimated the damages caused by Kipf for skipping out on his child support payments and gaining access to the networks exceeded more than $195,000, court documents show.

His plea deal noted that he agreed to pay restitution in the amount of "$3,500 to the state of Hawaii, $56,247 to Milestone Inc., $19,653 to GuestTek Interactive Entertainment, and $116,357 to the California child support agency."

Many of the charges he was hit with by prosecutors were dropped in the wake of the plea deal agreement.

He now awaits sentencing, during which he could face up to five years for aggravated identity theft and a minimum two-year sentence for his cyber crimes. His sentencing is scheduled for April 12.