A Tennessee grandmother who was falsely accused of financial institution theft crimes in North Dakota and detained for six months is suing for $10 million, alleging in a federal lawsuit that police improperly relied on AI facial recognition know-how to arrest her for crimes she didn’t commit.
Angela Lipps, a 50-year-old grandmother of 5, was arrested in July 2025 outdoors her dwelling whereas she was babysitting her neighbor’s youngsters, in keeping with the grievance. She was detained for a number of months at a detention middle in Tennessee earlier than being delivered to North Dakota to face a number of financial institution theft expenses, in keeping with the grievance.
Her expenses have been in the end dropped, and he or she was launched on Christmas Eve after Lipps and her lawyer supplied financial institution information displaying she was in Tennessee on the time of the alleged crimes, in keeping with the grievance.
The town of Fargo and Lucas Heck, a Fargo police detective recognized within the grievance as having requested the arrest warrant for Lipps, are named because the defendants within the grievance, which stated it seeks to “restore what has been damaged” over her false arrest and “seeks accountability” from the Fargo Police Division.
“They knew that AI facial recognition know-how shouldn’t be used as the only real foundation to extradite and cost an individual. But they ignored these points and gave no care to the hurt it might do to harmless folks like Lipps,” the grievance alleged. “As AI facial recognition know-how turns into extra accessible and widespread, Lipps hopes that her case will trigger officers to make use of acceptable care and take into account the hurt their actions can have on those that are wrongly accused.”
Angela Lipps speaks with ABC Fargo, North Dakota, affiliate WDAY.
WDAY
Heck is not accused within the grievance of personally utilizing the AI facial recognition know-how.
In line with the grievance, AI facial recognition software program utilized by a West Fargo Police Division investigator recognized Lipps’ social media picture as a possible lead in a financial institution theft investigation.
The supply of the facial recognition was a faux ID utilized by a feminine suspect who was captured on surveillance footage in incidents involving a number of Fargo-area banks, in keeping with the grievance. Lipps didn’t appear to be the suspect captured on surveillance video, in keeping with the grievance, which famous their distinction in construct, facial options and tattoos. Previous to arrest, Lipps had additionally by no means been to North Dakota, in keeping with the grievance.
The grievance claims that after Lipps was recognized as a lead, Heck didn’t conduct a radical investigation or discover adequate possible trigger earlier than requesting an arrest warrant. It alleges that Lipps was falsely arrested and imprisoned and maliciously prosecuted, and that the Fargo Police Division (FPD) didn’t adequately prepare officers on the usage of facial recognition know-how.
“FPD was conscious that the dearth of supervision of an officer utilizing facial recognition in an investigation might end result within the wrongful detention and prosecution of a topic. Regardless of data of this danger, FPD refused to oversee its officers’ use of facial recognition know-how in a felony investigation,” the grievance alleged.
The Fargo Police Division is proven on this display seize from a video.
WDAY
In line with the grievance, Lipps was detained for a number of months in Carter County, Tennessee, whereas alleged probation violations tied to prior, unrelated felony conduct in Tennessee have been resolved earlier than her extradition to Cass County, North Dakota. She was then ordered held on a $100,000 bond that she was unable to pay, in keeping with the grievance.
Throughout her monthslong detention, Lipps “skilled traumatic circumstances within the jails,” the grievance alleged.
“She struggled with the concern of not realizing when she can be launched or whether or not she would find yourself wrongly convicted and imprisoned for years,” the grievance alleged. “She missed household birthdays. She spent her personal birthday incarcerated, separated from her household. She missed holidays together with her family members, together with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Whereas in custody, she was denied primary care, resembling her drugs and her dentures.”
As soon as she was launched, Lipps realized she had misplaced her residence, automobile and different private property, in keeping with the grievance.
“Because the incident, she lives in concern that she can be kidnapped once more and has been left with the data that though she was harmless, she will not be protected,” the grievance acknowledged.
The grievance is searching for $10 million in damages.
“Clearly, it’s a vital quantity, however it displays the precise hurt that occurred to Angela,” her lawyer, Eric Rice, instructed ABC Nashville affiliate WKRN. “Are you able to think about being taken away at gunpoint, held in detention, taken from your loved ones?”
In response to a request for remark from town of Fargo and the Fargo Police Division, a metropolis spokesperson stated, “The Metropolis doesn’t touch upon pending litigation.”
Lipps’ case gained nationwide consideration following an article in the Grand Forks Herald in March. Then-Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski addressed Lipps’ case later that month, telling reporters during a press briefing that the division “recognized a few errors” within the investigation into the financial institution thefts.
He stated that West Fargo police, who have been additionally investigating financial institution theft instances showing to contain the identical suspect, had recognized Lipps as a possible lead by their AI facial recognition know-how based mostly on a photograph from a faux ID utilized by the suspect. When Fargo detectives obtained that data, they “assumed wrongly” that surveillance images from the Fargo financial institution theft instances, not simply the faux ID picture, have been additionally included, one thing West Fargo police “would not have performed and we must always have performed,” he stated.
“As you possibly can think about, the picture on the faux ID that I exploit does not essentially imply that I’m the individual that’s in that faux ID,” he stated.
Zibolski stated the division does not have its personal AI facial recognition know-how and would sometimes submit unknown individuals to the North Dakota State and Native Intelligence Heart. He stated the usage of the West Fargo AI facial recognition system wouldn’t have been allowed and has since been prohibited.
Within the wake of Lipps’s arrest, Zibolski stated the division would additionally take “extra steps” and “extra scrutiny” to maneuver instances ahead.
“What I do know proper now could be that the individuals concerned are additionally very upset by this as a result of they satisfaction themselves on their thoroughness,” he stated. “Nobody desires to see somebody detained, arrested unnecessarily, proper? Our aim is to get the fitting folks in custody and work by the justice system.”
ABC Information has been unable to achieve Heck for touch upon the grievance.
