Wanted!

Fargo, North Dakota. Want ad. October 2025

Wanted: Crimes. Specifically, fraud cases. We require that the perps never entered the State, never committed the specified crimes, whose social media account’s activity suggests suspicious activity related to crafting and cooking. The accused must be over the age of 55 and on Social Security. Our preference is for anyone who may be described as “little, old.”

Any person with knowledge or suspected knowledge of suspicious candidates, questionable Ai, or lack of evidence, please call the Fargo Police Department. We are bored out of our minds.

Is this a joke? I wish it were a joke. I have embellished the story for sarcasm and humor, but this happened in October of 2025, in Fargo, North Dakota. (I am having visuals of a movie, where the characters were idiots.)

The Fargo Police Department was investigating a bank fraud case. The unknown suspect had allegedly used a military ID, and withdrew a large sum of money. Viable suspects were not forthcoming, so they took the next step and consulted Ai for a suspect. Ai, eager to help, took the queried prompt and ran with it. It “imagined” the most feasible candidate and issued the photograph to the police.

Okay, the Ai prompt part is not how it went down, but it might as well have been.

Ai software, facial recognition software, was used to identify the person in the crime film, and came up with a woman. The woman, Angela Lipps, was then arrested.

There was one teeny weeny problem. She lived in Tennessee. It’s brilliant, if you ask me. Go to a state half the country away and commit a crime, then go home and babysit some kids. Make sure you knit, and no one will suspect you.

Here is the problem. She did live in Tennessee and had never been to North Dakota.

Ms. Lipps is a grandmother, 50 years old, and on social security benefits. She was babysitting a few kids and was arrested while doing the heinous activity. Imagine.

This elderly person probably wondered if babysitting had been labeled a crime. Was she committing a crime, giving children milk and cookies? Maybe it was the cookie. She gave them chocolate chips instead of Oreos.

U.S. Marshalls tracked her down to the home where she was watching these children suffer through milk and cookies, and arrested her.

She was extradited to North Dakota and put in the slammer.

No worries, she was innocent, and could easily prove her innocence. She had verifiable proof that she was in Tennessee at the time of the alleged crime. I imagine her phone could spit out exactly where she was and when she was at any location. It tracks your every move.

It clearly showed her whereabouts on the date of the crime. Clearly, she was not in North Dakota. Unconfirmed sources placed her, cashing her Social Security check, and having a gourmet meal with her windfall, at Harper’s, a five-star restaurant experience.

Truth be told, she had not left Tennessee at all. She was in her home state the entire time. In fact, she had never even been in the State of North Dakota in her life. (She might have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, though.)

(Some of you will not get that reference. It’s funny, trust me.)

Ms. Lipps was arrested and later taken to Fargo, where she was charged with felony fraud. She was jailed for 108 days. That’s right, one hundred and eight luxurious days in the dream vacation, and housed in the very best lodging, The Incarcerated Poe Dunk, a popular hot spot for criminal types.

During her stay in Fargo, it was proven that she was not the woman or person in the film footage. It took no time at all to verify the information, which could have been done within a few moments. It is unknown how or why the information took this much time to be sent or accepted by North Dakota.

She was brought before the judge to face her charges in the Fargo court. The evidence was presented. Within five minutes, the case fell apart, and the charges were dismissed. The charges were dismissed without prejudice. (I’ll get to what that means shortly.)

She was released on Christmas Eve, 2025, after the 108-day ordeal. Merry Christmas. Here is your freedom, with a side of PTSD. Enjoy the holidays.

The Fargo Police Department, under Police Chief Dave Zibolski, refused to apologize for its inane idiocy. How charming. The police’s only conciliatory comment was that there had been multiple errors made in the investigation. You think?

I am sure we have not seen the last of Ai making incorrect recognitive determination. In fact, the power of Ai, can generate any image and place it anywhere in the world, under any scenario. This is horrifying. It is especially horrifying because anyone can create anything and use it against you.

Imagine a person creating a video of you committing rape or murder. A video. How do you disprove that visual? What if you have no way to disprove it? This is a nightmare without end. The real concern here is what the everyday Joe can do to argue his/her innocence.

Ai needs to be carefully analyzed. It has amazing capabilities, yes. I use it to animate my artwork, and it adds an entirely new dimension to admiring a piece when the piece comes alive. That is a positive quality. However, it can easily go astray.

Created images or manipulated images can be made to do anything. Criminal. sexual or questionable video clips can ruin lives. We are already seeing record amounts of clips being created with things or stories that are not at all real. It is so effective in creating reality that often, a person cannot even distinguish the real from the fantasy. This is dangerous.

I am not for censorship, not at all. I think there is too much of that with the moderation Ai is using, but I do think something needs to be done to ensure no criminal activity is being promoted out there. I think there should be a way to track who creates a video, used to provide false information or potentially damaging content to an individual. There has to be accountability.

Speaking of the police issues in Fargo, they really need to find something to do. If they are that bored that they have to create a manhunt for an old lady, then maybe they should take up knitting.

The Police Chief should be held accountable. The city as well, for hiring an incompetent Chief. Both should show some contrition, at the very least, a public apology.

Let me address the dismissal of Ms. Lipps’ charges. The charges were dismissed without prejudice. This means that while the charges were dismissed and the case was closed, the defendant can still be charged for the crime. Since this granny was proven to be nowhere near their state, her charges should have been dismissed with prejudice. Then they could not traumatize her ever again.

We have so many issues here. Lackadaisical police investigations, the Marshals Office not doing any legwork in the veracity of the information against an accused, are the top two. Added to those are the use or misuse of Ai, and facial recognition. That cannot stand. The court, the lack of humility of the city and its employees in the city of Fargo, has to be addressed as well.

This has opened a very large window for civil action against Fargo. That will be a fun watch.

I hope Grandma gets a ton of money. She will then be able to give those children she watches over name-brand Oreos.

Go get ‘em, granny!

#justice #crime #granny #society #writing

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