TL;DR: Angela Lipps, a 50-year-old Tennessee grandmother, was babysitting four children when U.S. Marshals arrived at her door with guns drawn on July 14, 2025. Fargo police had used facial recognition software to identify her as a bank fraud suspect: a woman who stole tens of thousands of dollars using a fake military ID. One problem: Lipps was 1,200 miles away at the time. She spent 108 days in a Tennessee jail, then another two months in North Dakota custody. Charges weren’t dismissed until Christmas Eve. By then, she’d lost her home, her car, and her dog. Fargo police never called to ask where she was. The algorithm said it was her. That was enough.
July 14, 2025: Guns Drawn Over Grandchildren
Angela Lipps was watching four young kids at her north-central Tennessee home. The doorbell rang. U.S. Marshals stood on her porch.[1]
They had guns. They had a warrant. They had an arrest order from Fargo, North Dakota, a city Lipps had never visited.
“The extradition flight from Tennessee to Fargo was the first time on an airplane and the first time I had ever set foot in North Dakota,” Lipps later said.[2]
The charge: bank fraud. The evidence: an AI facial recognition match.
That was it.
How Fargo Police Built Their Case
Between April and May 2025, someone walked into multiple Fargo-area banks (Gate City, First International, Plains Commerce, Wells Fargo) and withdrew tens of thousands of dollars using a fraudulent U.S. Army military identification card.[1]
Surveillance cameras captured the woman. Detectives ran her image through facial recognition software. The algorithm returned a match: Angela Lipps of Tennessee.
The detective reviewed Lipps’s social media accounts and her Tennessee driver’s license photo. In the charging document, he wrote that Lipps “appeared to be the suspect based on facial features, body type and hairstyle and color.”[1]
What he didn’t do: pick up the phone.
No one from the Fargo Police Department ever contacted Angela Lipps to question her before filing charges. No one asked where she was in April. No one checked if she owned a military ID. No one verified anything.
The algorithm said 100%. That was enough to send U.S. Marshals to her door.
108 Days Without a Hearing
Because she was classified as a fugitive from another state, Lipps was ineligible for bail in Tennessee. She sat in jail for 108 days: no hearing, no interview, nothing.[3]
North Dakota officers didn’t retrieve her until October 30, 2025. October 31 was her first court appearance, and the first time police actually spoke to her.[1]
Think about that. Fargo police arrested someone, kept her in jail for nearly four months, and didn’t have a single conversation with her until the end of October.
Her Bank Records Told the Story
Defense attorney Jay Greenwood obtained Lipps’s financial records. They showed exactly where she was when those Fargo banks were being robbed: 1,200 miles away, at home in Tennessee.[1]
Social Security Deposits
Timestamped deposits to her Tennessee account during the exact dates of the Fargo fraud.
Gas Station Receipts
Local Tennessee gas station purchases matching the fraud dates.
Uber Eats Orders
Food deliveries to her Tennessee address when she was supposedly robbing banks in North Dakota.
The evidence was overwhelming. Angela Lipps couldn’t have committed these crimes. She was never in Fargo.
On December 19, 2025 (five days after Fargo police finally interviewed her) the case was dismissed. She walked out of jail on Christmas Eve.[1]
What Six Months in Jail Cost Her
Lipps was locked up from July to December. Bills don’t stop when you’re in jail.
- Her home: Lost to unpaid rent
- Her car: Repossessed
- Her dog: Gone. She couldn’t care for it from a cell.
When she was finally released, she had nothing. No identification. No winter coat. No phone.[4]
The F5 Project, a Minnesota-based nonprofit, stepped in. CEO Adam Martin drove her to Chicago to reunite with her boyfriend so she could get back to Tennessee.[4]
“We got her a phone so that she could make accommodations. We got her food, we got her clothing, jacket,” Martin said.[4]
The Twelfth Known Case
Lipps isn’t the first. She won’t be the last.
“This is the twelfth or so case we know in the United States now of somebody wrongfully arrested because police relied on incorrect facial recognition,” said Nate Freed Wessler, Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.[4]
He noted that Lipps’s six-month detention was “on the very higher end” compared to typical cases lasting days to weeks.
Previous wrongful arrests include:
- Robert Williams (Detroit, 2020): Arrested in front of his daughters for a shoplifting he didn’t commit
- Porcha Woodruff (Detroit, 2023): Arrested while seven months pregnant for a carjacking
- Jason Killinger (Reno, 2023): Spent 11 hours in jail after a casino’s AI said he was someone else
- Trevis Williams (NYPD, 2025): Eight inches shorter than the actual suspect. Same hairstyle.
Of the documented wrongful arrests, most victims have been Black. Lipps is white. The algorithm fails everyone. The question is how often, and whether anyone bothers to check.
One Phone Call Could Have Prevented This
The most damning detail isn’t the algorithm’s mistake. It’s what happened after.
Fargo police had Lipps’s name. They had her address. They had her social media. They had enough to file charges.
They didn’t have enough to make a phone call?
“Where were you in April?” That’s all it would have taken. Her bank statements would have cleared her immediately.
Instead, they sent U.S. Marshals to arrest a grandmother at gunpoint in front of children. Then they waited 108 days to talk to her.
What Happens Now
Lipps is seeking legal representation. According to the F5 Project, she wants an apology and compensation for her wrongful imprisonment.[4]
Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski announced his departure in early 2026. One local columnist suggested his sendoff should include “public shaming” for the department’s handling of the case, characterizing it as “laziness and incompetence.”[5]
Update (March 25, 2026): Chief Zibolski admitted “errors” in the Lipps case and issued a new directive with five requirements: facial recognition use restricted to criminal investigators only, commander approval required before AI searches, only state or federal systems allowed (no commercial tools like Clearview AI), and all submissions tracked. Full details in our March 25 briefing.
Update (March 27, 2026): Chief Zibolski publicly apologized for the wrongful arrest. Lipps’s attorneys are preparing civil rights claims, but Fargo police refuse to fully close the case. Read our full investigation into the police admission and what went wrong.
If You’re Wrongfully Arrested
Demand to Know How You Were Identified
Ask if facial recognition was used. Request all documents related to the match, including confidence scores and comparison images.
Document Your Location
Bank records, credit card statements, GPS data, timestamped photos, Uber receipts: anything proving you were elsewhere.
Contact a Civil Rights Attorney
The ACLU is tracking these cases. Wrongful arrests based on AI matches may support Section 1983 civil rights claims.
Request Fingerprinting
Fingerprints are definitive. Facial recognition isn’t. Demand fingerprint verification before accepting any booking.
The Bottom Line
Angela Lipps was watching her grandchildren. U.S. Marshals kicked in with guns drawn because an algorithm said she looked like someone else.
She spent 108 days in a Tennessee jail. Another two months in North Dakota. Lost her home. Lost her car. Lost her dog.
All because Fargo police trusted a facial recognition match and didn’t bother to make one phone call.
The charges were dismissed on Christmas Eve. By then, everything she had was already gone.
References
- Grand Forks Herald: AI error jails innocent grandmother for months in North Dakota fraud case (March 2026)
- Fargo Today: Woman Jailed for 6 Months Due to AI Identification Error (March 2026)
- InForum: AI error jails innocent grandmother for months in Fargo fraud case (March 2026)
- KFGO: F5 Project CEO details work to reunite Tennessee woman with family following arrest (March 2026)
- InForum: Rob Port: Shame on you, Fargo Police Department (March 2026)