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- Jesse E. Kipf pleaded guilty to faking his own death to avoid paying over $100,000 in child support.
- He accessed Hawaii's death registry system and posed as a doctor to certify his own death.
- Kipf also admitted to hacking into private networks to sell access online.
A Kentucky man admitted to faking his death partly to avoid paying his ex-wife more than $100,000 in outstanding child support, according to a plea deal filed in federal court late last month.
Jesse E. Kipf pleaded guilty on March 29 to one count of aggravated identity theft and one count of computer fraud.
According to the plea agreement, Kipf admitted to accessing the Hawaii death registry system in January last year, using the name and password of a doctor living in another state without their consent.
Posing as the doctor, Kipf created a case for his death, assigned himself as the medical certifier for the case, and then proceeded to certify his death, the plea agreement reached in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky said.
Kipf was then listed as deceased in many government databases, according to the plea agreement.
"The defendant faked his own death, in part, in order to avoid his outstanding child support obligations to his ex-wife," it said.
It also stated that Kipf infiltrated other states' death registry systems, using stolen credentials from other people.
Kipf admitted in the plea deal to hacking into private business, governmental, and corporate networks using stolen credentials in order to sell access to the networks to potential buyers online.
The plea agreement said that Kipf inflicted more than $195,000 in estimated damages, including $3,500 to the Hawaii Department of Health and $116,375.77 to his ex-wife.
According to the agreement, Kipf pledged to pay restitution to all affected parties.
A statement in November from the US Attorney's Office said that Kipf was initially indicted on five counts of computer fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, and two counts of making false statements.
After taking a plea deal, however, Kipf now faces a reduced sentence.
Kipf's lawyer, Thomas Miceli, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Kipf is scheduled to return to court on Friday for sentencing.