NEWS / Kentucky man sentenced to 9 years in prison for attempting to hack state death certificate registry

A Kentucky man has been sentenced to 9 years in prison for attempting to break into Hawaii’s state registries to create a fake death certificate for himself. The man, Joseph Kipf, 39, was apparently motivated to do so to avoid child support payments.

Kipf initiated his scheme in January 2023 by accessing Hawaii’s vital records system using the name and password of an out-of-state doctor, according to Carlton Shier the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, as reported by ABC News. Kipf went on to create a case reporting his own death and filing an application for his own death certificate.

Kipf also accessed other state registry systems and private networks using credentials from other people, which he then attempted to sell on the dark web, prosecutors stated. His actions led to him being registered as deceased in several government databases.

Kipf was arrested in November 2023. He went on to plead guilty to aggravated identity theft and computer fraud.

“Kipf admitted that he faked his own death, in part, to avoid his outstanding child support obligations,” prosecutors said.

The Kentucky man received his sentence from the US District Court in London, Laurel County, in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Kipf, an Iraq war veteran who had been divorced since 2008, now owes more than $195,000 in child support and restitution for damage to state computer systems.