North Dakota
Carter County woman mistakenly jailed for bank fraud in North Dakota
CARTER COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) – A Carter County woman was jailed for months in Fargo, North Dakota, after artificial intelligence mistakenly flagged her for bank fraud.
According to the Carter County Sheriff’s Office, Angela Lipps arrived at the Carter County Detention Center on July 14, 2025, for violation of probation. The Detention Center was informed through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) that Lipps also had a warrant in North Dakota for being a fugitive of justice.
The sheriff’s office told News Channel 11 that it informed the Cass County Jail in Fargo that it had Lipps in custody. On Oct. 30, 2025, Lipps was extradited to Cass County. Upon arrival, Lipps obtained a criminal defense attorney, Jay Greenwood.
In Fargo, Lipps was held in custody for two months while facing four counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information and four counts of theft, according to Greenwood.
According to Greenwood, Lipps claimed she had never set foot in the state of North Dakota prior to being transported there by law enforcement.
“We kind of had a discussion as to, ‘I’ve never been in North Dakota before, this is the first time I’ve ever been on an airplane when they brought me here,’ and so, we needed to establish that kind of that alibi line of defense,” Greenwood told News Channel 11.
Greenwood added that he began investigating bank records to prove that Lipps was not in Fargo at the time the bank fraud crimes occurred.
“I kind of reached out to Lipps’ family to see if they could get me some bank records just to show whether or not she was ever here, whether she was using her debit card in Tennessee, and it showed that she had been,” Greenwood said. “I asked for records of a few months back, so I kind of wanted to know if she had been buying the same types of things at the same types of places for a few months, and that showed that, and I gave that information to the state attorney’s office.”
Upon submitting the evidence to the state attorney’s office, the case was dropped shortly before a scheduled preliminary hearing.
Fargo Police Department Chief David Zibolski acknowledged in a press conference on March 23 that it was a mistake by an AI recognition tool used by the West Fargo Police Department, which forwarded that information to the Fargo Police Department.
“Through their AI system, made that identification of Ms. Lipps and forwarded that information,” Zibolski said. “I would say it’s not an identification; it’s a potential suspect, but they forwarded that information to our detectives, who then assumed wrongly that they had also sent in the surveillance photos with that photo ID.”
Greenwood said fault also lies with the Fargo Police Department for not fully investigating the case before issuing a warrant for arrest.
“All I did was ask her family if she had ever left Tennessee, and they were pretty clear that she hadn’t, and then provided me information within about a week,” Greenwood said. “So it’s kind of split both ways. I get when people are going to use the tools that they have, you know, AI tools that they can use. But it can’t be the only tool. And they just left it at that. And this is what happens.”
Zibolski added in the news conference that the Fargo Police Department has issued a temporary directive and the department’s use of facial recognition technology is under review:
- The use of facial recognition technology to identify an unknown person shall only be utilized by members assigned to the criminal investigation division.
- Prior to the use of this technology, the member’s unit commander shall review the case and approve the use of facial recognition technology to assist in creating an investigative lead that may help to identify an unknown person.
- Once reviewed and approved for submission, department members shall only use bona fide status or federal entities to perform the search.
- Department members shall not use any other individual agency or department’s facial recognition AI system.
- All facial recognition identification submissions shall be tracked by the unit commander. The unit commander shall report the results of those submissions monthly to the CID Commander.
The Fargo Police Department is still actively searching for the fraud suspect.