Reagan France, 36, the former branch manager of a Home Savings Bank location in Ludlow, Kentucky, appeared in U.S. District Court in Covington on a Thursday in the week of Sept. 9, 2026, and pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud, theft by a bank employee, and aggravated identity theft. A written plea agreement filed in court on Sept. 9, 2026, said she had agreed to plead guilty to those three charges.
Key facts
- Who: Reagan France, 36, former branch manager at Home Savings Bank in Ludlow, Kentucky
- Charges: federal bank fraud, theft by a bank employee, and aggravated identity theft
- Guilty plea: reported as entered in U.S. District Court in Covington on a Thursday in the week of Sept. 9, 2026
- Amount stolen: more than $335,000, from more than 20 customer accounts and two nonprofits
- Restitution: reported as at least $250,000, reflecting about $173,713 already recovered
- Forfeiture: according to reporting, a separate judgment of about $76,287
- Sentencing: scheduled for Jan. 13, 2027
Background: banker and councilwoman
France also spent time in local government: she served two terms on the city council in nearby Bromley, Kentucky, a separate town from Ludlow, where her bank job was based. In one of those elections, in 2020, she won by a single vote.
France worked at the Ludlow branch of Home Savings Bank starting in 2015, was promoted to branch manager, and resigned at the end of 2024. The bank job and her elected seat are easy to mix up, since Ludlow and Bromley sit close together in Northern Kentucky — but they are separate towns.
From indictment to guilty plea
The case traces back further than that. France was originally indicted in March 2026 on 22 federal counts and pleaded not guilty at her arraignment; One outlet reported she was released on her own recognizance without bond, but that detail was not independently corroborated elsewhere in the available coverage. The September plea agreement narrowed what she is actually pleading guilty to down to the three charges above.
How the scheme worked
According to the plea agreement, France used bank employee login credentials that weren’t her own, forged cash-withdrawal slips, and shifted money between customer accounts to hide what she was doing. A forensic examination found more than 100 unauthorized transactions, pulling money from more than 20 customer accounts and two nonprofit organizations in the Ludlow area where she volunteered, over a period stretching from at least 2022 through 2024. Reporting on the case does not say what prompted that examination in the first place. In total, she admitted to misappropriating more than $335,000. Separately, her own personal checking account at the bank had been allowed to run a deficit of more than $40,000. Reporting on the case does not say whether or how this connects to the embezzlement scheme.
Bank and prosecutors respond
Home Savings Bank president Stephanie Berry addressed the case in a statement, saying: “We deeply regret that these incidents occurred and are fully committed to making things right for those affected.” The bank said customers whose accounts were hit have already been reimbursed.
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and U.S. Attorney Jason Parman for the Eastern District of Kentucky jointly announced the guilty plea. “When a bank employee paid to protect customers’ money instead uses their position to steal from them, meaningful accountability is necessary,” Coleman said.
Restitution and forfeiture
According to reporting on the agreement’s terms, the plea deal sets France’s restitution at $250,000 — a figure described as already reflecting roughly $173,713 recovered to date — plus a separate forfeiture judgment of about $76,287. France’s attorney and federal prosecutors both declined to comment after Thursday’s hearing, and no further public statement from the defense side has appeared in coverage of the case.
What happens next
France has not been sentenced. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2027. Under federal law, bank fraud and theft by a bank employee each carry a maximum of up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine per count — the outer statutory limit for those offenses in general, not a number tied specifically to the deal France signed. Aggravated identity theft, by contrast, carries a fixed two-year prison term that a judge cannot shorten or run at the same time as any other sentence — it must be served on top. None of this predicts what France will actually receive; that will be decided at the January hearing.