Woman falsely accused after alleged AI facial-recognition match sues for $10 million

Summary

Angela Lipps, a 50-year-old Tennessee grandmother, is seeking $10 million from the city of Fargo and detective Lucas Heck, alleging that police relied improperly on an AI facial-recognition lead when she was arrested in connection with North Dakota bank thefts she says she did not commit. According to her federal complaint, Lipps was arrested in July 2025 while babysitting, detained in Tennessee, and later taken to North Dakota, where she could not pay a $100,000 bond. The charges were dropped, and she was released on Christmas Eve after she and her attorney provided bank records showing she was in Tennessee when the crimes occurred. The complaint says software used by a West Fargo investigator identified Lipps’s social-media photo as a possible lead after a female suspect used a fake ID bearing that photo. It alleges Lipps did not resemble the suspect in surveillance footage, had never been to North Dakota, and was arrested without a thorough investigation or sufficient probable cause. Heck is named in the suit but is not accused of personally using the facial-recognition system. Lipps says she lost her home, car, and other property while detained, and the complaint also alleges inadequate police training and supervision of facial-recognition use. Fargo’s former police chief said investigators mistakenly assumed that Fargo bank surveillance images had also been used in the West Fargo identification; he said the department did not own the technology, its use in the case would not have been allowed, and it had since been prohibited. He also said the department would apply more scrutiny to cases. The city declined to comment on pending litigation, and ABC News said it could not reach Heck for comment.