Grandmother falsely accused of theft after alleged AI facial recognition match sues

A Tennessee grandmother, Angela Lipps, is suing for $10 million after being falsely accused of bank theft crimes in North Dakota and detained for six months. Lipps, a 50-year-old grandmother of five, was arrested in July 2025 outside her home while babysitting her neighbors' children. She was detained for several months at a detention center in Tennessee before being brought to North Dakota to face multiple bank theft charges.

Her charges were ultimately dropped, and she was released on Christmas Eve after providing bank records showing she was in Tennessee at the time of the alleged crimes. The city of Fargo and a Fargo police detective are named as defendants in the lawsuit, which alleges that police improperly relied on AI facial recognition technology to arrest Lipps for crimes she did not commit.

Lipps hopes her case will cause officers to use appropriate care and consider the harm their actions can have on those who are wrongly accused.

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