- Angela Lipps was wrongly jailed for six months over a bank fraud case in North Dakota
- Facial recognition software incorrectly identified Lipps as the main suspect in the case
- Lipps was arrested at gunpoint while babysitting and flown from Tennessee to North Dakota
A woman in the US had her life upended after she was wrongly imprisoned for six months in jail over a bank fraud case. Angela Lipps, 50, from Tennessee, was slapped with criminal charges last year when police jailed and later flew her to North Dakota after facial recognition showed she was the main suspect in an organised bank fraud case. Despite having never been to North Dakota or stepped on an aeroplane in her life, Lipps was apprehended and thrown behind bars.
Lipps was babysitting her four young children when a team of US Marshals took her away at gunpoint, according to a report in the Grand Forks Herald. She was booked into her county jail in Tennessee as a fugitive from justice from North Dakota.
After sitting in the Tennessee jail for four months, she was charged with four counts of unauthorised use of personal identifying information and four counts of theft in North Dakota.
After a local news channel obtained the Fargo police file in this case, it was revealed that detectives were investigating several bank fraud cases, where they came across a female suspect who was using a fake US Army ID to withdraw tens of thousands of dollars.
To identify the woman, the Fargo police used facial recognition software, which wrongly pinpointed Lipps. In his charging document, the detective wrote that Lipps appeared to be the suspect based on facial features, body type, hairstyle and colour.
"If the only thing you have is facial recognition, I might want to dig a little deeper," said Jay Greenwood, the lawyer representing Lipps in North Dakota.
After furnishing Lipps' bank records, Greenwood met Fargo police at the Cass County jail on December 19. It was the first time the police had interviewed in the last five months. Five days after the meeting, the case was dismissed, and she was released.
'Total Failure'
Social media users were left stunned by the details of the case, with the majority stating that simple police legwork would have led to the case being dismissed.
"The wildest part is that basic detective work would've cleared this up in like an hour. She never left Tennessee, never been on a plane, and they still shipped her across the country based on a facial recognition match?" said one user, while another added: "Total failure of law enforcement in two states."
A third commented: "This happened in my town. I just can't fathom how it got to the point where she was extradited here without someone in the legal system taking a look at the claim."
While Lipps secured her freedom, she lost her home, her car and even her dog as she was unable to pay bills from jail. Meanwhile, Fargo police have made no arrests so far in the bank fraud case.
