Lee County man files lawsuit after AI leads to wrongful arrest

A Lee County man is suing several law enforcement agencies after their use of artificial intelligence technology led to his wrongful arrest in 2024.

Gulf Coast News first exposed the injustice a year and a half ago.

WRONGFULLY ARRESTED OUTSIDE HIS HOME: ‘THIS IS NUTS’

It’s been nearly two years since Robert Dillon was arrested outside his home in San Carlos Park.

Body camera footage from a deputy on scene shows Dillon appearing confused and in disbelief.

"Are you s***ting me, man?" Dillon asked the deputy when told he was being arrested.

"This is nuts," Dillon later said while being placed in cuffs.

Dillon was handcuffed, hauled off and eventually booked into jail for a crime he never committed.

Still today — it haunts him.

"I don't think I'll ever trust law enforcement again," Dillon told Gulf Coast News. "It's like you're guilty until proven innocent."

ACCUSED OF A CRIME MORE THAN 300 MILES FROM HOME

Dillon was accused of trying to lure a child at a fast-food restaurant in Jacksonville Beach, more than 300 miles from his home.

An investigator there submitted surveillance photos of the suspect to a facial recognition program — A.I. — which revealed a 93% match on facial features to Dillon.

But beyond that, and a witness who picked his photo out of a lineup, no evidence tied him to the crime.

The reality? Dillon has never been to Jacksonville Beach.

"They have people using this A.I. that aren't qualified to use it," Dillon said. "They’re not trained. They don’t have the experience."

CASE DROPPED, EVENTUALLY WIPED FROM THE RECORD

Weeks after the arrest, after Dillon and a defense attorney proved his innocence, the state attorney’s office dropped the case.

It took nearly a year to wipe it from his record.

"Almost a year, my mugshot was up on Lee County for a crime that I didn't commit," Dillon said. "That should never happen to anybody."

ACLU TAKES ON DILLON’S CASE, FILES LAWSUIT

After learning about the case through the reporting of Gulf Coast News, the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, decided to take on Dillon’s case.

"To describe the police work in this case as 'sloppy' would be charitable," said Nate Wessler, an attorney for the organization.

Wednesday, they filed a wrongful arrest lawsuit on Dillon's behalf.

"We're now seeing just a scourge, across the country, of police using this unreliable technology, trusting the results, letting incorrect results taint their investigations, and arresting totally innocent people," Wessler said.

The lawsuit is filed against several law enforcement agencies, including the Jacksonville Beach Police Department, which investigated the case.

It also names the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which ran the facial recognition result, and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, which manages the statewide facial recognition system that was used.

Certain individuals within the agencies are also named in the suit.

"It fits the pattern of a series of very similar cases we've seen across the country," Wessler said. "It's a tremendously dangerous technology when it's misused in this way."

Wessler said not only did police rely too heavily on facial recognition and what he calls a 'tainted' photo lineup, but he also alleged that the investigator failed to mention key evidence to the judge.

That includes a phone call that was made to Dillon in which he insisted upon his innocence, and the fact that Dillon’s license plates were not picked up on readers in Duval County during the timeframe of the crime.

"It was sloppy, but it went beyond that," Wessler said. "We had an officer who actively concealed exculpatory evidence from the judge when applying for an arrest warrant."

LAWSUIT SEEKS DAMAGES, POLICY CHANGES

The lawsuit is seeking monetary damages for Dillon — but not only that. His attorneys are asking the court to order policy changes against the law enforcement agencies involved, related to how they use facial recognition technology.

Dillon is a commercial crabber on the Gulf Coast. He considers himself an everyday, working-class, blue-collar American.

To be accused of something like this — and to be wrongfully arrested for it — he said has changed him forever.

"It changes the way that I interact with children, and that really sucks for me. Because I've always loved kids," Dillon said. "I'm just fighting for, so this doesn't happen to anyone else."

ACLU IDENTIFIES SIMILAR CASES ACROSS THE UNITED STATES

The lawsuit references yet another case involving the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office: a man in North Carolina who was wrongfully arrested by JSO after an incorrect result from facial recognition.

Across the U.S., the ACLU says more than a dozen cases like this have been reported.

That includes a case in Orlando as well.

LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES RESPOND TO LAWSUIT

Gulf Coast News reached out on Wednesday to all the police agencies named in Dillon’s lawsuit.

So far, only the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has responded. A spokesperson said they do not comment on pending litigation.