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A Pulaski County man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in London on charges related to cyber intrusion, identity theft, and bank fraud, the U.S Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Kentucky announced on Wednesday.

Jesse Kipf, 38, of Somerset, was indicted on five counts of computer fraud, three counts of aggravated identity theft, and two counts of making false statements on applications in connection with federally insured financial institutions.

The indictment alleges that Kipf intentionally accessed a computer without authorization and then obtained information from a protected computer for his own private gain and in furtherance of identity theft.

He is accused of illegally accessing the following websites:  State of Arizona, State of Hawaii, State of Vermont, GuestTek Interactive Entertainment, Ltd., and Milestone, Inc.  GuestTek Interactive Entertainment and Milestone are vendors of large hotel chains; but at this time, investigators have no evidence that hotel customer personal identifying information was compromised.

The indictment also states that Kipf knowingly and unlawfully used the identification of three different persons to commit wire fraud and computer fraud.  He is also alleged to have made false statements to federally insured corporations to open credit accounts.

For each of the computer fraud charges, Kipf faces up to five years in prison; for each of the identity theft charges, he could receive up to two years in prison; and for the bank fraud charges, a maximum of 30 years in prison.  However, any sentence following a conviction would be imposed by the Court, after its consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal sentencing statutes.

The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by FBI Louisville, Kentucky Attorney General’s Office, Department of the Attorney General for Hawaii, and the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office.

A jury trial is currently set for January 17, 2024, at 8:30 a.m., at U.S. District Court in London.

Individuals believing they may be victims of the cyber intrusion scheme described herein are encouraged to visit the following website to obtain more information:  https://justice.gov/usao-edky/information-victims-large-cases.

Tips on how to protect yourself and your personal information against cybercrime can be found by clicking here and on the FBI Cyber Division’s website.