FARGO — A grandmother from Tennessee is working to get her life back after what she says was a case of mistaken identity that nearly cost her everything.
Angela Lipps spent nearly six months in jail after Fargo police connected her to a bank fraud case in the metro.
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It's a crime she says she didn't commit. In fact, she said she's never been to North Dakota.
Lipps, 50, is the mother of three grown children and has five grandchildren, spending nearly her entire life in north-central Tennessee. The extent of her travels is limited to neighboring states.
She's never been on an airplane in her life.
Angela Lipps speaks with WDAY News during an interview about her wrongful arrest and release in a Fargo bank fraud case. Matt Henson / WDAY
That changed last summer when police flew her to North Dakota to face criminal charges after facial recognition showed she was the main suspect in what Fargo police called an organized bank fraud case.
"It was so scary, I can still see it in my head, over and over again," Lipps said.
It was July 14, the day a team of U.S. Marshals arrested Lipps at her home in Tennessee. She said she was taken away at gunpoint while babysitting four young children. She was booked into her county jail in Tennessee as a fugitive from justice from North Dakota.
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