A Tennessee grandmother spent nearly six months behind bars after facial recognition software wrongly identified her as a suspect in a bank fraud case in Fargo, North Dakota — a place she says she had never visited. Angela Lipps, 50, was arrested at her home by the U.S. Marshals Service last summer and extradited more than 1,200 miles to face criminal charges. Prosecutors eventually dropped the case after financial records proved she was in Tennessee at the time of the alleged crimes. By then, the damage was done: Lipps had lost her home, her car and even her dog. Arrested at gunpoint over an algorithm Lipps says she was babysitting four children when armed marshals arrived and arrested her as a fugitive. Authorities alleged she was part of a fraud ring that used fake military identification to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars from bank accounts. Surveillance images from the incidents were run through facial recognition software by Fargo Police Department. The system flagged Lipps as a match. Investigators then compared the footage with her driver’s licence photo and social media images before filing charges. Lipps says she was never contacted or questioned before the arrest warrant was issued. Months behind bars with no bail Because she was classified as a fugitive from another state, Lipps was held without bail while extradition proceedings dragged on. She spent more than three months in a Tennessee jail before being transported to North Dakota. Prosecutors charged her with multiple counts of identity theft and fraud. Her court-appointed lawyer later obtained financial records showing Lipps was carrying out routine purchases in Tennessee — buying food and depositing Social Security checks — at the exact times the crimes occurred hundreds of miles away. Case collapses — but life already shattered After interviewing Lipps for the first time, authorities dropped the charges on Christmas Eve. She walked free in Fargo with only summer clothes, stranded in freezing winter conditions. Local lawyers and charity workers helped her secure a hotel room before arranging a long journey home. Lipps says no one from the police department has apologised. Algorithm errors spark growing alarm The case adds to mounting scrutiny of police reliance on facial recognition technology. Civil liberties groups say Lipps’ arrest is among a growing number of documented wrongful detentions tied to algorithmic misidentification in the United States. Critics warn the stakes are stark: a single faulty match can upend a life long before the truth catches up. Grandmother says AI error landed her in jail for nearly six months
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