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Angela Lipps says she has by no means been to North Dakota. She says she had by no means even been on an airplane. That did not cease the U.S. marshals from displaying up at her house in Tennessee and arresting her.
Lipps, a 50-year-old grandmother of 5 from Elizabethton, Tennessee, was taken into custody in July 2025 in reference to a financial institution fraud case greater than 1,000 miles away in Fargo, North Dakota. She was not launched till round Christmas Eve, which means she spent greater than 5 months in custody earlier than the case was dismissed.
Investigators had used facial recognition software program to match surveillance pictures from the financial institution fraud case with photographs of Lipps from her driver’s license and social media. The outcome, in line with her protection lawyer, was a case that by no means ought to have gone this far.
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HOW SURVEILLANCE TECH LED POLICE TO ACCUSE THE WRONG PERSON
How facial recognition led police to Angela Lipps
The case started with financial institution fraud studies in Fargo and close by West Fargo. Police had been searching for a suspect who allegedly used a false army ID to take cash from accounts.
Detectives reviewed surveillance footage and used facial recognition expertise to seek for a doable match. Then-Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski has described the software as “an AI operate by means of the North Dakota State Intelligence Heart.”
Jay Greenwood, the Fargo protection lawyer appointed to symbolize Lipps, joined our “CyberGuy Report” podcast at CyberGuyPodcast.com to elucidate how a facial recognition lead helped set the case in movement. His warning was easy: police can use facial recognition as a software, however they nonetheless have to confirm what the expertise claims. Greenwood mentioned the pictures used within the case weren’t precisely crystal clear.
“That they had safety footage of some terribly positioned safety cameras from above,” Greenwood mentioned. “And so they had a few nonetheless pictures, poor nonetheless pictures from these cameras that they despatched to an organization to do facial recognition.”
That search pointed investigators to Lipps. Greenwood mentioned detectives then checked out her social media pages and moved ahead with the case. “They didn’t do some other investigation previous to her arrest in bringing her to North Dakota,” Greenwood mentioned. Police then sought an arrest warrant. Lipps was arrested in Carter County, Tennessee, and held as a fugitive from justice.
Grandmother arrested at gunpoint whereas babysitting
Lipps says U.S. marshals arrested her at gunpoint whereas she was babysitting younger youngsters. She was taken to a neighborhood jail in Elizabethton, Tennessee, whereas she waited to be extradited to North Dakota.
Greenwood mentioned Lipps informed authorities from the start that she had by no means been to North Dakota. “She informed them I would by no means been to North Dakota. I’ve by no means been on an airplane,” Greenwood mentioned. “She actually would not go away the 100- to 200-mile radius of Elizabethton ever.”
Nonetheless, Lipps remained in jail for months. Fargo Police Chief Travis Stefonowicz informed CyberGuy that the division’s assessment discovered Lipps was arrested in Tennessee on July 14, 2025, and held on a probation violation.
“Tennessee authorities notified the Cass County Sheriff’s Workplace on October 20, 2025, that Ms. Lipps had a waiver of extradition to North Dakota and was obtainable for transport to the Cass County Jail,” Stefonowicz mentioned.
Stefonowicz mentioned Fargo Police couldn’t decide from obtainable data why Lipps remained in Tennessee custody for so long as she did earlier than being transported to North Dakota.
“We have now been unable to find out primarily based on obtainable data if the size of time Ms. Lipps was in jail in Tennessee earlier than being transported to North Dakota was on account of serving time for a probation violation or if it was as a result of she fought extradition,” Stefonowicz mentioned.
Greenwood mentioned she fought extradition and waited in Tennessee earlier than she was taken to North Dakota round Halloween. “Gave her her first ever aircraft ticket, ever aircraft trip,” Greenwood mentioned. “And he or she spent it in custody, flying to North Dakota.”
A girl who says she had by no means flown earlier than acquired her first aircraft trip in custody, headed to combat costs in a state she says she had by no means visited.
Fargo police reply to facial recognition considerations
Stefonowicz was appointed interim chief on March 30 after former Chief Dave Zibolski retired on March 27. Fargo Police mentioned Zibolski’s retirement was family-related and unrelated to this case. Stefonowicz was formally chosen as Fargo’s subsequent police chief through the Fargo Metropolis Fee assembly on Could 11.
In a press release to CyberGuy, Stefonowicz mentioned the arrest warrant mirrored that prosecutors and a choose had discovered possible trigger.
“The Fargo Police Division takes the civil rights and due technique of all people concerned in our investigations very critically. Concerning the case of Ms. Lipps, the issuance of an arrest warrant indicated that the Cass County State’s Legal professional and a choose decided possible trigger existed for the costs,” Stefonowicz mentioned.
He mentioned the costs had been dismissed with out prejudice, which means they could possibly be refiled if further investigation helps doing so.
“This stays an ongoing investigation, and we’re nonetheless working to confirm and corroborate data to find out, definitively, who was and was not concerned on this house fairness mortgage financial institution fraud scheme,” Stefonowicz mentioned.
Fargo Police additionally clarified that the division doesn’t personal facial recognition expertise or contract straight with distributors that present it.
“Nonetheless, there are state and nationwide legislation enforcement intelligence facilities that incorporate facial recognition expertise and are utilized by businesses throughout the nation, together with in our state,” Stefonowicz mentioned. “Every so often, FPD investigators could submit inquiries to these intelligence facilities, to be able to assist generate leads by means of facial recognition for potential suspects or individuals of curiosity in native investigations.”
That distinction issues. Fargo Police says it doesn’t run facial recognition in-house, however investigators should still use exterior intelligence facilities to generate leads. That places the main focus again on what guardrails exist earlier than these leads help an arrest.
That response provides an vital caveat. Lipps’ protection says she was wrongly accused and later cleared by fundamental information. Fargo Police say the case stays open and investigators are nonetheless attempting to find out who was concerned.
AMAZON ADDS CONTROVERSIAL AI FACIAL RECOGNITION TO RING
Fundamental information helped clear Angela Lipps
As soon as Greenwood acquired concerned, he began searching for proof of the place Lipps had been through the alleged financial institution fraud. The reply got here from on a regular basis information. Her household despatched financial institution information displaying exercise close to her house in Tennessee throughout the identical interval Fargo authorities claimed she was in North Dakota.
The information confirmed her depositing Social Safety checks and making native purchases. “She was in Elizabethton and the encircling communities depositing her Social Safety checks,” Greenwood mentioned. “Shopping for Ubers, cigarettes, gasoline, all that stuff.”
Greenwood mentioned he forwarded the information to the state’s lawyer. After a police interview, the case was dismissed. Lipps was launched on Christmas Eve.
Fargo Police gave CyberGuy a extra detailed timeline. Stefonowicz mentioned Lipps made her first court docket look in North Dakota on Oct. 31, 2025, however the detective assigned to the case didn’t be taught she was in custody in North Dakota till Dec. 5.
“As a result of she had authorized illustration, lawyer consent was required earlier than our detectives might interview her,” Stefonowicz mentioned. “An interview was first granted by Ms. Lipps’s protection lawyer on December 19, 2025.”
After that interview, Stefonowicz mentioned Fargo Police decided that additional investigation was wanted.
“On December 23, 2025, the FPD detective, the Cass County State’s Legal professional and the presiding choose mutually agreed to dismiss the costs with out prejudice to permit for added investigation,” Stefonowicz mentioned. “Ms. Lipps was subsequently launched from the Cass County Jail on December 24, 2025.”
By then, she says the harm was already carried out. She says she misplaced her house, her automobile, her repute and her canine whereas she was locked up.
Fargo police adopted a facial recognition coverage
Fargo Police mentioned it carried out a complete inside assessment after the case. Stefonowicz mentioned former Chief Dave Zibolski addressed the investigation at a March 24 information convention.
“With respect to this case, we’ve carried out a complete inside assessment,” Stefonowicz mentioned. “Throughout a information convention on March 24, former Chief of Police Dave Zibolski addressed areas the place our preliminary investigation might have been extra full and emphasised that additional work is required to totally perceive who was and was not concerned on this scheme.”
Fargo Police has since adopted a proper facial recognition expertise coverage. Stefonowicz mentioned the division didn’t beforehand have a standalone coverage as a result of Fargo Police doesn’t conduct facial recognition evaluation, present that service to different businesses or keep in-house facial recognition expertise.
“We have now since adopted a proper coverage for facial recognition expertise (FRT) use for our company,” Stefonowicz mentioned.
He mentioned the case prompted Fargo Police management to revisit that strategy.
“This case has prompted FPD management to re-evaluate that strategy associated to having a particular FRT coverage,” Stefonowicz mentioned. “FPD Coverage 610, which formally establishes parameters and expectations for the usage of FRT, was revealed as of Wednesday, March 25.”
That coverage change issues as a result of it exhibits the case prompted Fargo Police to formalize how investigators could use facial recognition leads, even when the division doesn’t run the expertise itself.
Why facial recognition errors are so harmful
Facial recognition will help generate leads. Nonetheless, critics warn that it may additionally produce false matches, particularly when picture high quality is poor or the system compares faces in opposition to large databases.
Some programs pull from public photographs on-line, together with social media pictures and different public-facing photographs. Meaning many individuals could seem in search databases with out realizing it.
Greenwood mentioned police have to deal with the expertise as one investigative software, not a shortcut round fundamental detective work.
“I’ve informed quite a few folks, like, it is a software,” Greenwood mentioned. “It needs to be one of many instruments that legislation enforcement can use.”
Then he defined what must occur subsequent. “They have to be taught to make use of the opposite instruments to confirm what they’re being informed by this machine,” Greenwood mentioned.
That’s the key problem. A facial recognition hit ought to push investigators to ask extra questions. It ought to by no means finish the dialog.
Different facial recognition wrongful arrest circumstances
Angela Lipps is just not the primary individual to say facial recognition helped put them in handcuffs. Different circumstances have concerned folks wrongfully arrested after software program produced a mistaken match. Civil liberties teams have additionally warned that facial recognition programs can carry out worse on some teams, together with darker-skinned women and men.
That raises a severe query for each police division utilizing this expertise. What safeguards exist earlier than an individual will get arrested? A foul match on a display can flip right into a search warrant and jail time. For Lipps, that danger grew to become painfully actual.
9 ONLINE PRIVACY RISKS YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW ABOUT
Methods to remain protected from facial recognition errors
Most individuals won’t ever face something like this. Nonetheless, the Lipps case exhibits how your digital footprint can comply with you in methods you might by no means count on.
1) Say nothing till you communicate with a lawyer
If legislation enforcement contacts you about one thing you didn’t do, don’t attempt to speak your method out of it. Keep calm and ask for an lawyer. Even harmless folks can say one thing that will get misunderstood.
2) Maintain information that present the place you had been
Financial institution transactions, receipts, telephone location information, work schedules and medical appointments will help set up the place you had been on a sure date. You do not want to trace each second of your life. Nonetheless, fundamental digital information will help if a severe mistake ever occurs.
3) Assessment your public photographs on-line
Verify what photographs you publish publicly. Additionally, have a look at tagged photographs from family and friends. Your face can seem on-line even whenever you didn’t publish the image your self.
4) Take away private data from information dealer websites
Knowledge dealer websites accumulate and promote private particulars. A knowledge elimination service will help take away your data from these databases. You may also do it manually, but it surely takes time, and the data can reappear. Try my prime picks for information elimination companies and get a free scan to seek out out in case your private data is already out on the net by visiting CyberGuy.com.
5) Ask police and lawmakers about police AI guidelines
Your metropolis or state could already use facial recognition instruments. Ask what guidelines police should comply with earlier than they use an AI match in a prison case. At a minimal, departments ought to require unbiased proof earlier than an arrest.
What facial recognition errors imply for you
AI will help investigators transfer quicker, however velocity creates danger when folks skip fundamental steps. Police nonetheless want information, timelines and customary sense. Facial recognition could make errors. It will possibly misinterpret poor pictures. It will possibly level to the unsuitable individual. And when that occurs, the implications don’t remain on a display. They present up at somebody’s entrance door.
Kurt’s key takeaways
This case ought to make each police division pause. Facial recognition could assist discover leads, but it surely ought to by no means be sufficient to upend somebody’s life. Angela Lipps says she misplaced months behind bars for a criminal offense she didn’t commit in a state she had by no means visited. Her lawyer says fundamental information later helped show she was in Tennessee. That ought to have occurred earlier than spending months in jail. Greenwood summed up the case this manner: “Ridiculous case by no means ought to have occurred.” Know-how will help police resolve crimes. However when a pc match replaces actual detective work, harmless folks pays the value. For the complete dialog with Angela Lipps’ protection lawyer and extra on how this case unfolded, take heed to the “CyberGuy Report” podcast at CyberGuyPodcast.com.
If a facial recognition match will help ship a grandmother to jail, what guardrails ought to each police division be compelled to comply with earlier than somebody loses their freedom? Tell us by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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