A Kentucky man was sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison after hacking state systems to fake his death, in part, to escape child support payments, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Jesse Kipf, 39, of Somerset, Kentucky, hacked into the Hawaii Death Registry System in January 2023 with the username and password of a physician living in another state to certify his death, resulting in Kipf being registered as a deceased person in several government databases, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Kentucky said Tuesday. He also infiltrated other states' death registry systems and private business networks, and governmental and corporate networks using credentials stolen from real people tried to sell access to these networks to potential buyers on the dark web.

"This scheme was a cynical and destructive effort, based in part on the inexcusable goal of avoiding his child support obligations," said Carlton S. Shier, IV, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, in a statement. "This case is a stark reminder of how damaging criminals with computers can be, and how critically important computer and online security is to us all." 

Kipf was sentenced to 81 months by U.S. District Judge Robert Wier on Monday. Under federal law, he must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for three years upon his release.  

The damage to governmental and corporate computer systems and his failure to pay his child support obligations amounted to $195,758,65.

Michael E. Stansbury, Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Louisville Field Office, said Kipf "hacked a variety of computer systems and maliciously stole the identity of others for his own personal gain." Victims of identity theft, Stansbury said, "face lifelong impact and for that reason, the FBI will pursue anyone foolish enough to engage in this cowardly behavior."

Defending against identity theft

Earlier in August, National Public Data revealed billions of American's addresses, names, and Social Security numbers were stolen and up for sale on the dark web due to a data breach. Experts previously told USA TODAY everyone should monitor their credit reports for illicit activity and take a step forward in freezing their credit accounts with the three bureaus for added protection.

If you're a victim of identity theft, the Justice Department recommends placing fraud alerts on your credit reports, closing accounts that were illegally accessed or created, and filing a police report. The department recommends people log all relevant information and conversations for the investigation and when speaking to the three credit bureaus.

Contact reporter Krystal Nurse at [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter,@KrystalRNurse.