Angela Lipps Sues Fargo Over Arrest Tied to an AI Face Match

Facial-recognition results can point investigators toward a suspect, but Angela Lipps’ new federal lawsuit alleges an unverified AI match instead led to her arrest and nearly six months in jail before records placed her in Tennessee during the North Dakota bank-fraud crimes.

Lipps filed a 35-page complaint against the City of Fargo and Fargo Police Detective Lucas Heck. She alleges violations of her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment, and seeks $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages, plus attorney fees.

The complaint traces the case to fraudulent bank withdrawals under investigation in Cass County in early 2025. A West Fargo investigator ran surveillance images through facial-recognition software, which surfaced Lipps’ Facebook profile as a potential match. That investigator declined to seek a warrant because the result lacked corroborating evidence, according to the lawsuit.

Lipps alleges Heck used the AI lead to obtain an arrest warrant without basic checks that could have tested it. The complaint says the warrant affidavit omitted exculpatory information, including that Lipps lived far from Fargo, had not been to North Dakota and did not match the physical characteristics of the person shown in high-resolution video.

Investigative steps the lawsuit says were not taken

• Reviewing Lipps’ financial transactions or travel records before seeking the warrant.
• Using photo lineups that did not steer bank tellers toward a suspect.
• Including material information that could have helped clear Lipps in the warrant affidavit.

The suit also alleges Fargo lacked adequate policies, training and supervision for police use of AI facial recognition. Fargo commissioners had already entered a closed session in March for legal consultation about expected or pending litigation involving Lipps; city minutes do not disclose the advice given.

The allegations have not been decided by a court. No response to the lawsuit had been filed when WVLT published its report.