By Brenna R. Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - A 61-year-old woman who authorities say has been defrauding banks for more than 30 years has been indicted again.

Alice Roberta Freeman is accused of cashing $12,000 in stolen checks at banks in four Kentucky counties in January 2002, according to a federal incident. The indictment, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Covington, charges Freeman with nine counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

The indictment alleges that someone else stole the checks, then Freeman cashed them at Firstar banks in Kenton, Boone and Scott counties and at Fifth Third Banks in Kenton, Campbell and Scott counties. She wore a hospital coat while cashing the checks, the indictment states.

In 1993, Freeman was convicted of similar charges in Lexington and Cincinnati. In the Ohio case, she was sentenced to 21/2 years in prison for defrauding seven banks in southwestern Ohio.

When she was sentenced in 1993, Freeman admitted to the thefts, saying she was supporting a drug addiction

In 1993, she was also wanted in Michigan and California. She was released from federal prison in Texas in May 2000 where she had been jailed for violating her supervised release after a conviction for bank fraud, records show.

E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com