A Tennessee woman said she spent five months in jail last year after police’s facial recognition program erroneously linked her to a series of bank fraud incidents in North Dakota.
WDAY reported that last July, U.S. Marshals arrested Angela Lipps, 50, in Tennessee on charges that she was a fugitive from justice in North Dakota. It was then she learned she was charged with unauthorized use of personal identifying information.
Despite claiming not to know anyone from North Dakota, Lipps spent four months in a Tennessee jail while awaiting extradition. While Lipps was extradited in late October, the first time she was able to plead her innocence to North Dakota police and obtain a lawyer was in late December.
Months before Lipps’ arrest, Fargo detectives were investigating several bank fraud incidents that involved a woman withdrawing tens of thousands of dollars while using an Army identification card. WDAY reported that authorities used facial recognition to identify the suspect, which led them to Lipps’ social media accounts and her driver’s license photo.
Lipps’ bank records allegedly showed she was 1,200 miles away when the bank fraud was committed in North Dakota. The charges against Lipps were dismissed on Christmas Eve.
While Fargo police officials said they only learned in early December that Lipps was in custody, KVLY obtained emails suggesting they knew in July. Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner said his department is not responsible, as Fargo police had ample notice of Lipps being in custody.
“I also know there was a booking report that was sent out to their agency that had Ms. Lipps on that particular booking report that was shared with the whole agency so there were a number of ways they were alerted,” he explained.
Despite the mix-up, Lipps said police provided no assistance to get her back to Tennessee. She also said the five-month ordeal resulted in her losing everything, including her home, car, and dog, according to KVLY.
Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski declined to provide further details about the case in a statement issued to People, citing an ongoing investigation.
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