Tennessee grandmother sues Fargo after being held in jail for 6 months over AI mistake

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A Tennessee grandmother has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Fargo after she was wrongly held in jail for six months over a case of mistaken identity due to an AI mistake.

Lawsuit filed

What we know:

Angela Lipps was arrested by about a dozen law enforcement officers in July 2025 after a warrant was issued by Fargo police over a fake IDs and bank theft case in North Dakota. The arrest came while she was babysitting her neighbor's kids. At first, Lipps says she was confused and feared she was being kidnapped. Lipps says she was held at gunpoint by officers and walked out of the home in front of watching neighbors. She was ultimately charged with eight felonies related to bank fraud.

Lipps was then held in custody between Tennessee and North Dakota for a period of six months before she was released on Christmas Eve "into the freezing cold" of North Dakota and "with no way to get home to Tennessee," as the lawsuit describes.

When she did finally get home, the lawsuit states, she "found her residence, car, and personal property were lost while she was absent." After her story went public, a GoFundMe was launched to support Lipps.

Fargo police later acknowledged errors in the investigation that led to Lipps being identified as a potential suspect through facial recognition.

The other side:

Lipps says she's never been to North Dakota or anywhere close to it. The lawsuit states Lipps looks nothing like the actual culprit.

The lawsuit claims Lipps had financial transactions that would have proved she was in Tennessee at the times the crimes were committed if investigators had checked. Lipps would ultimately use those bank records to get the case dismissed.

Finally, the lawsuit claims a West Fargo investigator also reviewed her as a potential suspect after getting the same lead but declined to issue a warrant.

Fargo PD responded to case

What they're saying:

In March 2026, then-Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski appeared to blame Lipps' match on one of the fake IDs versus surveillance photos.

Zibolski said his Fargo detectives "assumed wrongly" that surveillance photos had been submitted along with the fake ID photos.

"As you can imagine, the photo on the fake ID that I use doesn't necessarily mean that I am the person that's in that fake ID," explained Zibolski. "And so, the wrong assumption was that the surveillance photos had been sent. However, the photo did hit on her as a potential person."

What's next:

In her lawsuit, Lipps brings five counts against the city and lead detective on the case:

• Fourth Amendment unlawful seizure/arrest
• Fourteenth Amendment due-process violations
• A Monell civil-rights claim
• False arrest and imprisonment
• Malicious prosecution

Lipps is seeking $10 million in damages. The lawsuit was filed just Tuesday in federal court in North Dakota.

The city has not yet responded to the lawsuit. When asked for a response by FOX 9, a city spokesperson only said: "The City does not comment on pending litigation."

North DakotaCrime and Public SafetyArtificial Intelligence