Angela Lipps
FARGO (KFGO KVRR) – A Fargo-based organization helped Angela Lipps, a 50-year-old Tennessee woman who was arrested in a bank fraud investigation in Fargo and spent nearly six months in jail.
When the case was dismissed and she was released, F5 Project CEO Adam Martin says Lipps had no ID, winter clothing, or a phone. With the help of Martin, she was able to get some help.
“So, we got her a phone so that she could make accommodations. We got her food, we got her clothing, jacket, put her in a hotel for a couple days. And then she was able to get a hold of her boyfriend and meet us in Chicago, and so I gave her a ride to Chicago to meet up with her boyfriend, and she got back to Tennessee,” said Adam Martin, CEO of F5 Project.
Lipps was arrested in July, 2025 after Fargo police used facial recognition software. The American Civil Liberties Union says mistakes like this are not uncommon.
“This is the twelfth or so case we know in the United States now of somebody wrongfully arrested because police relied on incorrect facial recognition from technology. Now the length of time she was in jail as a result of this is on the very higher end,” said Nate Freed Wessler, Deputy Director of ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project.
Typically, Wessler says many of those who end up in jail are released within a few days to a few weeks. He says police should have stronger policies in place or simply stop using the software.
“We think it shouldn’t be used at all in policing, but if it is at bare minimum police need to have firm rules in place to ensure that it’s only the barest lead at the start of investigation and there are real independent steps that follow it, to make sure that mistakes with that technology don’t affect the rest of the investigation and rely on this kind of terrible injustice for a person,” said Wessler.
Lipps is working to find an attorney with the help of Martin. He says she is hoping to receive an apology and compensation for her time spent in jail in both Tennessee and Fargo.
F5 Project assists people who have been released from jail and prison find work and housing in addition to other services.
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