{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-09-30T07:56:24.303Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"conviction","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"contextual","evidence":"","year":"2021","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":0,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":0,"contextualRelations":1,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-kimberlee-williams-maryland-facial-recognition-wrongful-arrest-six-months-jail","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'Someone on the listserv ran the image through facial recognition technology and sent back Ms. Williams’ name and photo as a purported match to the suspect.'; 'the detective assigned to the case concealed that the entire basis of Ms. Williams purported identification was a lead from an unknown and unreliable face recognition technology search by an unknown entity.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'A respondent to the investigator’s CrimeDex bulletin “suggested, using facial recognition software” that Williams was the suspect, he told police.'; 'Each department charged Williams in 2020 based on the identification reported by the bank investigator and a visual comparison of Williams and the woman in the bank from photos, according to charging documents and incident reports.'; 'Montgomery County police did not disclose that Williams had been identified using facial recognition when they sought charges against her, according to police records.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'The bank shared the result with detectives from three Maryland counties'; 'relying instead on only their own visual comparisons of photos of Ms. Williams and photos of the suspect.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"A bank investigator shared surveillance images of the fraud suspect on the CrimeDex network; a respondent used facial-recognition software to name Williams as a match; police in three Maryland counties charged her on the investigator's identification and their own visual comparison of photos, and the Montgomery County detective did not disclose the facial-recognition search when seeking charges.","causal_attribution":"The ACLU's account and the Washington Post's review of police records, charging documents and bank correspondence agree. The Post published on the day the ACLU sent its letters and does not say how it obtained the records; it attributes the expungement, the statute of limitations and the social-media alibi material to the ACLU. The Post adds that Montgomery and Anne Arundel police also cited her past check-fraud convictions; Anne Arundel police say they corroborate outside tips."},{"id":"c2","status":"corroborated","evidence":[{"locator":"'On June 23, 2021, Ms. Williams was accompanying one of her daughters, a DoorDash driver'; 'Ms. Williams spent 23 days in an Oklahoma jail before a Maryland officer arrived'; 'Those cases were finally dismissed in December 2021. All told, Ms. Williams spent six months behind bars.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'and jailed for six months before the charges were dismissed, according to court records.'; 'Williams was held in jail in Oklahoma for about three weeks before being transported to Maryland.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"Williams was arrested in June 2021 (on 23 June, according to the ACLU) at a military base near Lawton, Oklahoma, held about three weeks in Oklahoma, transported to Maryland, charged in three counties, and jailed about six months in total before the charges were dismissed.","causal_attribution":"ACLU and Washington Post (citing court records) independently."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'She faced 16 charges across the three counties, including 12 felonies.'; 'The two other counties dismissed their charges against Williams in December.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'Montgomery County prosecutors dropped their charges against Ms. Williams in October 2021'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"She faced 16 charges across the three counties, including 12 felonies; Montgomery County dropped its charges in October 2021 and the other two counties dismissed theirs in December 2021.","causal_attribution":"Charge count from the Washington Post only; the October 2021 Montgomery dismissal and December 2021 dismissals are reported by both the ACLU and the Post."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'said her mother was depressed after leaving jail and struggled to readjust after the time behind bars.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'this ordeal took a significant toll, with serious consequences for her mental and physical health to this day.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"After her release Williams was depressed and struggled to readjust, according to her daughter; the ACLU says the ordeal had serious consequences for her mental and physical health.","causal_attribution":"Family and advocate accounts; Williams herself told the Post she thinks illnesses caught in jail may have worsened a later condition, which is not established."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Today, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Maryland sent letters to three Maryland police departments on behalf of Kimberlee Williams'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'The Montgomery County Police Department declined to comment on the ACLU’s complaint, citing an active investigation.'; 'said the agency “investigates and corroborates any outside tips and leads it receives before applying for criminal charges.”'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"On 14 April 2026 the ACLU and ACLU of Maryland sent complaint letters to the Montgomery, Prince George's and Anne Arundel county police departments seeking an apology and reforms; Montgomery County police declined to comment citing an active investigation, and Anne Arundel police said they independently corroborate outside tips.","causal_attribution":"ACLU announcement and the departments' statements to the Banner."}],"effects":[{"label":"arrested in Oklahoma and jailed about six months in Oklahoma and Maryland on 16 bank-fraud charges, all later dismissed, after a facial-recognition search named her; depression and health effects reported","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/woman-wrongly-jailed-for-months-based-on-faulty-facial-recognition-technology-demands-apology-from-maryland-police-departments","kind":"press_release","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-27 (ACLU press release, 14 April 2026). The ACLU represents Williams.","independence_group":"aclu"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.aclu.org/cases/kimberlee-williams-wrongful-arrest","kind":"other","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-27 (ACLU case page). Same organisation as s1.","independence_group":"aclu"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/apr/14/that-wasnt-me-how-facial-recognition-led-to-a-woma/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-27: the Washington Post article (14 April 2026) as syndicated in full by the Spokesman-Review. The Post reviewed police and bank records, charging documents and interview video and interviewed Williams and her daughter. The washingtonpost.com original timed out (Archive 403).","independence_group":"washington-post"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.thebanner.com/community/criminal-justice/aclu-facial-recognition-maryland-police-YXUU7AXEMNFIHKHJ5FZB2RLJPA/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-27 (Baltimore Banner, April 2026). Mostly relays the ACLU; cited only for the departments' own responses to the Banner.","independence_group":"baltimore-banner"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["others_use","institutional_use"],"contexts":["justice"],"unknowns":["Who ran the facial-recognition search on CrimeDex, with which software, and what the returned match contained.","How much weight each department gave the facial-recognition lead against their own photo comparisons and her prior convictions.","The exact release date in December 2021.","Whether the three departments have answered the ACLU complaints, and whether anyone else was charged.","Whether jail conditions contributed to her later illness (her own suggestion).","The dates of the frauds: the Washington Post gives December 2019 for the Potomac withdrawals but also quotes her daughter placing the Maryland cases in December 2020 and January 2021; the dates in the other two counties are not reported."],"geography":{"basis":"The frauds and charges were in Montgomery, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties, Maryland; Williams lived in Oklahoma and was arrested at Fort Sill near Lawton, Oklahoma (ACLU; Washington Post).","court_countries":["US"],"event_countries":["US"],"affected_person_countries":["US"]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a contextual case in which a facial-recognition search's identification of a person led to her arrest and about six months in jail: the ACLU and the Washington Post, which reviewed police records independently, agree on the facial-recognition lead, the charging and the dismissals. Williams is named in her own right; family members are not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-27"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The bank investigator told Montgomery County police that a CrimeDex respondent 'suggested, using facial recognition software' that Williams was the suspect (Washington Post, from police records), and the ACLU says someone on the listserv ran the image through facial-recognition technology and returned her name and photo. The software, its operator and the match output were not produced; police also made their own photo comparisons, and two departments cited her old convictions. The made_claim_about relation reflects the search's identification of her as the suspect.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["made_claim_about"]},"name":"Maryland/Oklahoma: Kimberlee Williams, an Oklahoma woman who says she had never been to Maryland, was arrested in June 2021 and jailed about six months on bank-fraud charges in three Maryland counties after a facial-recognition search by an unknown CrimeDex respondent named her; all charges were dismissed by December 2021 and the ACLU filed complaints in April 2026","summary":"According to police and bank records reviewed by the Washington Post, in December 2019 a woman made fraudulent withdrawals at a SunTrust branch in Potomac, Maryland; branches in two other Maryland counties were also defrauded. A bank investigator posted the surveillance photos on CrimeDex, an online network of police and corporate investigators; an unknown respondent ran the image through facial-recognition software and returned Kimberlee Williams's name and photo, and the investigator told Montgomery County police that facial-recognition software had identified her. Police in Montgomery, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties charged her in 2020 on the investigator's identification and their own visual comparison of photos (two departments also cited her old Oklahoma check-fraud convictions), without reported checks of her whereabouts; Montgomery County police did not disclose the facial-recognition search in the charging application, according to police records reviewed by the Washington Post and the ACLU. On 23 June 2021 she was arrested at the gate of Fort Sill near Lawton, Oklahoma, while accompanying her daughter on a DoorDash delivery, spent about three weeks in an Oklahoma jail, was flown to Maryland, and faced 16 charges including 12 felonies. The counties dismissed the charges one after another, in October and December 2021, after about six months in jail. Her daughter says she was depressed afterwards; the ACLU says the ordeal harmed her mental and physical health. On 14 April 2026 the ACLU and ACLU of Maryland sent complaint letters to the three departments seeking an apology and reforms.","incidentDate":"2021-06-23","incidentKind":"bounded_series","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-04-14","aiSystem":"An unidentified facial-recognition search run by an unknown respondent on the CrimeDex investigators' network against a bank's surveillance image (ACLU; Washington Post); the software and operator are not identified","aiProduct":"Unidentified facial recognition system","severity":"high","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["loss_of_liberty","legal_harm","psychological_distress"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Williams spent about six months in jails in Oklahoma and Maryland on 16 charges that were all dismissed; the ACLU and the Washington Post attribute the arrest to a facial-recognition match that police relied on without independent investigation, and her daughter says she was depressed afterwards (ACLU; Washington Post via Spokesman-Review).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":0,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":1,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person arrested and jailed, Kimberlee Williams (ACLU; Washington Post). Family members' distress is described but not counted. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"US-MD","platformType":"other","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"pending","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2026/apr/14/that-wasnt-me-how-facial-recognition-led-to-a-woma/","primarySourceLabel":"Washington Post via the Spokesman-Review, 14 April 2026: 'That wasn't me': How facial recognition led to a woman being jailed for 6 months","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-27T03:39:40.380472+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:43.031229+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["facial-recognition","wrongful-arrest","police","crimedex","maryland","oklahoma","aclu","justice","made-claim-about"]}]}