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Medium reported severity Lawsuit Filed

Florida: 93% facial-recognition hit led to Robert Dillon's arrest as an attempted child abductor; charges dropped, ACLU suit filed

In August 2024, Robert Dillon, a 52-year-old self-employed commercial crabber from the Fort Myers area, was arrested at his San Carlos Park home on a third-degree felony warrant for the attempted luring of a child at a Jacksonville Beach McDonald's in November 2023 — a crime he had no part in. The warrant rested on a 93%-confidence result from FACES, the Face Analysis Comparison and Examination System maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, run against low-resolution cell-phone photos of a surveillance screen, plus a restaurant employee's photo-lineup identification. Dillon spent a night in jail and bonded out against his truck's title; prosecutors dropped the charges in October 2024 after work-alibi evidence, but it took about a year to expunge the arrest and remove his mugshot. In June 2026 the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit (M.D. Fla.) against Jacksonville Beach, the Jacksonville sheriff and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, calling Dillon one of at least 14 known wrongful arrests from police reliance on facial recognition since 2019.

AI system
FACES facial recognition
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (FACES centralized database)
Occurred
1 Aug 2024 to 1 Oct 2024
Reported
11 June 2026
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Made a decision about the person · Made a claim about the person
Reported harm
Legal HarmReputational HarmPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Justice
Evidence
AI involvement supported · Causal attribution supported · 3 sources
5 claims: 1 documented, 3 corroborated, 1 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: FACES (Face Analysis Comparison and Examination System), Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

What Happened

In November 2023 a man attempted to lure a girl under 12 at a Jacksonville Beach McDonald's. An officer took cell-phone pictures of the restaurant's surveillance screen — low-resolution, partially shadowed and off-axis, per the lawsuit. The images went through the Face Analysis Comparison and Examination System (FACES), a centralized database maintained by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which returned Dillon's photo as a possible match at a reported 93% confidence; the warrant relied on that result and on a statement from a restaurant employee who picked his photo out of a lineup. Police had in fact called Dillon in 2023, and he denied involvement, pointing to distinctive skin-cancer scars. Lee County deputies arrested him at his San Carlos Park home in August 2024 (ABC News obtained bodycam of the arrest via its Gulf Coast affiliate). He spent one night in jail and bonded out, pledging his truck's title. Prosecutors dropped the charges in October 2024 after work-alibi evidence; the arrest took about a year to expunge, with his mugshot lingering online. The ACLU's suit, filed the week of 8 June 2026 in the Middle District of Florida, names the city of Jacksonville Beach, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (which oversees the use of the AI facial-recognition technology across Florida) and seeks damages and policy safeguards. The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office responded that a training-failure claim 'is patently false', that 'facial recognition results are never "matches"', and that liability 'rests solely with any officer who did so'. Dillon told ABC News: 'I don't wish this on my worst enemy.' The ACLU counts him as at least the 14th known person wrongfully arrested since 2019 from police reliance on facial recognition (Reason, 11 June; WUSF's attorney interview says 15 known, 18 June).

Reported harm

Arrested at home on a child-abduction-class felony from a 93% facial-recognition hit on grainy screen photos; a night in jail, two months to clear the charge, and about a year to expunge the record and remove the mugshot.

How Harm Occurred

A facial-recognition system's high-confidence result on degraded screen photos was treated as warrant-grade identification of a man 300 miles from the crime; the institutional process (warrant, felony arrest, slow expungement) converted the system's error into lasting personal damage.

Outcome

Ongoing

Charges dropped October 2024; expungement completed about a year later. ACLU federal lawsuit filed week of 8 June 2026 (M.D. Fla.) against the city of Jacksonville Beach, Sheriff T.K. Waters (Jacksonville) and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office; damages and policy safeguards sought.

What remains unknown

  • The exact filing date within the week of 8 June 2026 and the docket number are not pinned in the inspected sources.
  • Whether the '93%' figure was system-generated or an investigator's characterization is unverified.
  • The lineup procedure's details (who administered it and how) are only partly reported.
  • The expungement's completion date is given only as 'about a year' after the arrest.
  • The actual perpetrator of the 2023 luring attempt is not reported as identified.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: supported. The warrant rested on the FACES 93%-confidence result plus a lineup identification, per the complaint as carried by Reason and WUSF; the vendor (Pinellas County Sheriff's Office FACES) is confirmed by WUSF, and the PCSO's own response acknowledges its technology's role while rejecting liability.

5 claims: 1 documented, 3 corroborated, 1 reported. What the statuses mean

Corroborated The warrant rested on a 93%-confidence FACES result obtained from low-resolution cell-phone photos of the restaurant's surveillance screen (partially shadowed, off-axis) plus a restaurant employee's photo-lineup identification; police had called Dillon in 2023 and he denied involvement, citing skin-cancer scars.

Causal attribution. The evidentiary basis is the complaint's account, carried by two chains; whether '93%' was system-generated or an investigator's characterization is unverified (the suit says the system 'spit out' his photo as a 'possible match').

  • reason.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'took pictures of the screen with his cell phone… low resolution… partially shadowed and off-axis'; '93 percent confidence'.
  • wusf.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Warrant based on the FR hit + 'a statement from a restaurant employee who picked his photo out of a lineup'; 'police called Dillon in 2023, he denied involvement citing skin-cancer scars'.
Corroborated Dillon was arrested at his San Carlos Park home in August 2024, spent one night in jail and bonded out pledging his truck's title; prosecutors dropped the charges in October 2024 after work-alibi evidence; the arrest took about a year to expunge, with his mugshot lingering online.

Causal attribution. The custody and expungement timeline is consistent across three chains.

  • reason.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'arrested Aug 2024 in Fort Myers'; 'more than two months later, prosecutors dropped the charges'; 'it took an entire year… to take down his mug shot and expunge the arrest'.
  • abcnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Arrest bodycam 'outside his San Carlos Park home' via Gulf Coast affiliate; the Dillon interview ('I don't wish this on my worst enemy').
  • wusf.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'charges… dropped… in October 2024'; 1 night jail, bonded out pledging his truck's title.
Corroborated The ACLU filed a federal lawsuit in the week of 8 June 2026 in the Middle District of Florida against the city of Jacksonville Beach, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, seeking damages and policy safeguards.

Causal attribution. The suit's existence and parties are carried by three chains; the exact filing date within the week of 8 June is not pinned in the inspected sources.

  • reason.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'suit in M.D. Fla. vs. city of Jacksonville Beach + officers/officials incl. Sheriff T.K. Waters'.
  • abcnews.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Suit 'includes the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, which oversees the use of the AI facial recognition technology across Florida'.
  • wusf.org(opens in new tab) supports · English
    ACLU attorney Nathan Wessler interview; defendants: Jacksonville Beach PD + Jacksonville and Pinellas County sheriffs' offices.
Documented The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office responded that a training-failure claim 'is patently false', that 'facial recognition results are never "matches"', and that liability 'rests solely with any officer who did so'.

Causal attribution. The agency's position is quoted directly and preserved as contrary evidence.

Reported The ACLU counts Dillon as at least the 14th known person wrongfully arrested since 2019 from police reliance on facial recognition (Reason, 11 June); a later WUSF attorney interview puts the count at 15 known.

Causal attribution. The advocacy count is attributed to the ACLU; the two figures are recorded as stated on their dates.

Sources

3 sources inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English on 2026-09-15 (11 Jun 2026, Joe Lancaster). Applies to s1.

Read in English on 2026-09-15 (12 Jun 2026, Hipos & Yu). Applies to s2.

Read in English on 2026-09-15 (18 Jun 2026, Lyden/Peddie). Applies to s3.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: United States.

Event: the warrant (Jacksonville Beach) and the arrest (San Carlos Park / Fort Myers), Florida. Affected person: Dillon, Florida. Court: the felony charge (dropped) and the federal suit in the Middle District of Florida.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-15: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional automated-decision case (made_decision_about / made_claim_about): a facial-recognition hit treated as warrant-grade identification, documented by three independent chains including the ACLU's own attorney and the vendor agency's response. Dillon spoke publicly; the PCSO denial is preserved as contrary evidence.

People described

Robert Dillon, 52, self-employed commercial crabber, San Carlos Park / Fort Myers area (named; he gave interviews)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One documented harmed person: Dillon, the misidentified arrestee (three independent chains). The child in the underlying luring attempt is a victim of the actual perpetrator, not of the misidentification, and is not counted.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#facial-recognition#wrongful-arrest#justice#florida#aclu

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Florida: 93% facial-recognition hit led to Robert Dillon's arrest as an attempted child abductor; charges dropped, ACLU suit filed. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-dillon-faces-wrongful-arrest-florida

BibTeX

@misc{2026_dillon_faces_wrongful_arrest_florida,
  title = {Florida: 93\% facial-recognition hit led to Robert Dillon's arrest as an attempted child abductor; charges dropped, ACLU suit filed},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-dillon-faces-wrongful-arrest-florida}
}

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