A former Northern Kentucky bank manager and former city council member has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges after confessing to stealing over $335,000 through a scam involving client accounts and local nonprofit organizations.
Reagan France agreed to plead guilty to bank fraud, theft by a bank employee, and aggravated identity theft, according to a plea deal filed on September 9 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Prosecutors agreed to seek dismissal of the remaining charges at sentence.
France began working for Home Savings Bank in Ludlow in 2015 and advanced to the position of bank manager in 2023. She resigned at the end of 2024. Her role offered her access to consumer information, such as account numbers and names.
According to the plea deal, France embezzled money from over 20 customer accounts between 2022 and 2024.
According to investigators, France utilized two key methods: moving money from consumer accounts to her own accounts and withdrawing cash directly from customer accounts.
The investigation discovered $107,893.04 taken in transfers and another $109,821 in cash withdrawals. In addition to other claimed losses, France acknowledged to misappropriating roughly $335,182.42.
According to the plea deal, France used the credentials of another bank employee to counterfeit withdrawal slips and transfer funds between customer accounts in order to hide thefts. Her personal checking account at the bank was also allowed to have a deficit of more than $40,000.
According to the deal, investigators discovered that France stole tens of thousands of dollars from accounts associated with two Ludlow nonprofit organizations where she volunteered.
France agreed to pay at least $250,000 in restitution, offsetting the $173,712.81 already collected. She also consented to a forfeiture judgment of $76,287.19.
The aggravated identity theft accusation includes a mandatory two-year jail sentence that must run concurrently with any other prison term imposed. France is yet to be condemned.
She previously spent two terms on the Bromley City Council, winning one election with a single vote.
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