Grandma says she lost her home and car after being arrested for fraud — police admit they made a mistake based on AI

North Dakota cops admit that they made a mistake when they arrested a Tennessee grandmother for fraud based on a tip from a facial recognition program that uses artificial intelligence.

Angela Lipps, 50, said she was stuck in jail for months and lost her home, her car, and even her dog. She is now living with neighbors and is considering legal action against the police department.

'We should have done that,' Zibolski admitted.

Now-retired Fargo Police Chief Dave Zibolski admitted that "mistakes" were made but fell short of apologizing to the woman falsely imprisoned.

Zibolski passed the buck onto the West Fargo Police Department, which he said had purchased an artificial intelligence program without notifying the Fargo police at the executive level.

Investigators were trying to identify a suspect in a bank fraud case when they ran an image from a fake ID through the facial recognition software. The software identified Lipps as a match for the suspect, and they passed the information to Fargo police, which neglected to submit surveillance videos to their approved state-run facial recognition hub.

"We should have done that," Zibolski admitted.

He said the program used by the West Fargo police has been prohibited from police use, and he has implemented additional restrictions on the use of such software.

Zibolski was asked why he didn't apologize to Lipps, and he said the investigation was ongoing. He also appeared to imply that she may still be involved in the fraud somehow.

"We do not know definitively who’s involved and who’s not at this juncture," he said.

Lipps was arrested in Tennessee in July 2025 and was extradited to Cass County, North Dakota, on October 30. She was in jail for a total of five months, released only after she obtained an attorney who produced bank records showing she was in Tennessee at the time of the crimes she was accused of.

The charges were dismissed on Christmas Eve.

West Fargo Chief Pete Nielsen told Flag Family News: "The West Fargo Police Department was involved in the investigation of an unauthorized use of personal identification case. The primary person of interest in this case matched similar incidents that took place in the City of Fargo."

Nielsen added: "The facial recognition software identified a potential suspect with similar features to Angela Lipps. That intelligence information was then shared with the Fargo Police Department, at their request, in relation to their open cases."

Zibolski also claimed that Fargo police learned about Lipps' arrest on December 5. However, Cass County Sheriff Jesse Jahner claimed that Fargo police knew she was in custody much earlier, and emails obtained by Valley News Live revealed that Fargo police may have known about the arrest in July.

Zibolski announced March 11 that he was retiring as police chief after 40 years in law enforcement. His retirement was official on Friday.

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Lipps' predicament has made national headlines and led to a GoFundMe donation page to help her recover her former life. She has since garnered $76,000.

"Once our department knew about her arrest, they immediately addressed it," Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney said. "We will continue to look at our process."

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