A Tennessee grandmother, Angela Lipps, found herself in an unexpected legal nightmare after a facial recognition system wrongly linked her to a bank fraud incident in North Dakota—a place she insists she has never set foot in. This case highlights a growing concern surrounding the accuracy of AI in law enforcement.
On July 14, 2025, Lipps, aged 50, was shocked when U.S. Marshals arrived at her Elizabethton home as she was babysitting four children. The officers, armed with guns, arrested her, leaving her bewildered and frightened. She recounted this harrowing experience in a heartfelt online fundraiser, aiming to share her story with the public.
Her ordeal intensified as she spent 108 days confined in a county jail without the option of bail. Eventually, she was transported to North Dakota, facing charges of felony theft and unauthorized use of personal identifying information, as detailed by CNN reports.
According to court documents obtained by News Channel 9, Lipps’ arrest was tied to a police investigation in Fargo. Authorities there were probing a bank fraud case, where a suspect used a counterfeit U.S. Army ID to withdraw substantial funds during April and May of 2025.
In her defense, Lipps’ legal team presented compelling evidence, showcasing bank records that clearly placed her in Tennessee. On the dates in question, Lipps was seen on surveillance at a local gas station, ordering pizza and using CashApp—far from the alleged crime scene in Fargo, North Dakota, over 1,200 miles away.
Despite this exculpatory evidence, Lipps languished in jail for several months. It wasn’t until December 19 that the police finally questioned her, a moment she described as pivotal. Within just five minutes, the foundation of the prosecution’s case crumbled, revealing the grave errors of the AI system that had turned her life upside down.
Lipps was then finally released from custody on Christmas Eve, after Fargo detectives, the state’s attorney and a local judge ‘mutually agreed to dismiss the charges without prejudice to allow for further investigation.’
Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski has since admitted that officers made multiple errors in the investigation – but would not apologize to Lipps.
Angela Lipps, 50, of Elizabethton, Tennessee was taken into custody by armed US Marshals on July 14, 2025 in connection with a bank fraud case in North Dakota, a state she said she had never been to
Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski has since admitted that officers made multiple errors in the investigation – but would not apologize to Lipps
He explained at a news conference on Tuesday that the police department of West Fargo, a different city, was investigating a similar case and ran the fake IDs through their in-house AI software.
‘They forwarded that information to our detectives, who then assumed wrongly that they had also sent in the surveillance photos with that photo ID,’ Zibolski said.
‘As you can imagine, the photo on the fake ID that I use doesn’t necessarily mean that I am the person that’s in the fake ID.’
West Fargo police told Minnesota Public Radio that the connection to Lipps was ‘shared with the Fargo Police Department, at their request, in relation to their open cases.
‘The West Fargo Police Department did not forward any charges to the Cass County State’s Attorney’s Office regarding Angela Lipps,’ a spokesperson for the department continued.
‘Detectives did not have enough evidence to charge any person of interest for that incident that took place in the City of West Fargo,’ the spokesperson added.
The cops in nearby Fargo also erred, Zibolski said, by not submitting surveillance photos associated with the fraud case to the North Dakota State and Local Intelligence Center, which is certified and trained in facial recognition.
Officers have since submitted the photos, and the center has since provided police with other potential suspects based on the surveillance footage, Zibolski said.
Lipps spent five months behind bars before police questioned her about the bank fraud case
The police chief also addressed why Lipps had to spend months behind bars before she was finally interviewed by Fargo police in December.
‘In talking with Cass County and the State’s Attorney’s Office, there’s not an easy mechanism for them to notify us if someone arrested on our felony warrant is in custody,’ he said, noting that the department is now looking at ways to improve the system, including with a daily review of the booking roster.
At the same time, Zibolski said officers will undergo training for ‘understanding facial recognition returns and submissions’ amid a temporary order setting various parameters around the use of facial recognition – including a ban on facial recognition from other police departments.
The State’s Attorney’s Office is also ‘very interested’ in attending a training about facial recognition with the North Dakota State and Local Intelligence Center ‘so that they have a better perspective also on the prosecutorial side,’ the police chief said.
‘We’re happy to acknowledge when we make errors, and we’ve made a few in this case for sure, but also that we are willing to address those,’ he said.
‘And we’ve taken immediate action in all of these cases. And we certainly apologize for any effect or adverse effect that this has had on trust in the community because we want people to be confident in what we’re doing.’
Fargo police (pictured) will now undergo training for ‘understanding facial recognition returns and submissions’ amid a temporary order setting various parameters around the use of facial recognition – including a ban on facial recognition from other police departments
But when asked whether he would like to apologize to Lipps, the police chief asserted: ‘At this juncture, we still don’t know who’s involved and who’s not involved’ in the fraud case.
‘We’re going to have to whittle through all of this kind of vast network of people and who’s involved,’ Zibolski told reporters.
He also said police are still considering disciplinary measures for the officers who made the mistake.
‘What I can tell you, from what I know right now, is that the persons involved are also very upset by this, because they pride themselves on their thoroughness,’ he said.
‘No one wants to see someone detained, arrested unnecessarily,’ he added.
In a statement attorneys representing Lipps said the news conference confirmed their own findings.
‘It appears that the Fargo Police Department did not undertake basic investigative efforts before causing a warrant and charges to issue for Angela Lipps,’ they said.
‘Officers knew that Angela was a Tennessee resident and we have seen no investigation by officers to determine whether she traveled to or was in North Dakota at the time of the bank thefts.
‘Instead, an officer used AI facial recognition as a shortcut for basic investigation, resulting in an innocent woman being detained and transported halfway across the country to answer for charges that she has nothing to do with.’
Lipps, a mother-of-three and grandmother-of-five, bemoaned that she had to miss Halloween with her grandchildren, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations
While incarcerated, Lipps lost her beloved Chrysler Sebring and everything that was inside of it
While Lipps was detained, she said she lost her rental home in a mobile home park, lost her Social Security income, her health insurance, her beloved Chrysler Sebring convertible and everything inside of it and even her dog.
‘I missed Halloween with my grandkids. I missed my 50th birthday. I missed Thanksgiving. I was released on Christmas Eve, but I was stranded in North Dakota with nothing, so I missed that too,’ she bemoaned.
Lipps went on to share how she now has trouble sleeping at night.
‘I’m up every hour, thinking and praying, thankful I’m no longer locked up but terrified that it could happen again,’ she wrote.
‘I shake when I think about that day,’ Lipps continued. ‘I am not the same woman I was. I don’t think I ever will be.’
The mother-of-three and grandmother-of-five is now living with neighbors in the trailer park.
‘I have no car, no money and no way to start over on my own,’ she wrote. ‘I have always been an independent woman. I cannot start life again with nothing.’
Good Samaritans have contributed over $68,000 to her fundraiser, as her lawyers said they are investigating whether Lipps’ civil rights were violated.
