LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The suspect charged in the kidnapping of a Louisville mother and her two children and then robbing a bank pleaded not guilty Thursday.
Armond Langford, 32, was indicted on five counts of robbery, one count of kidnapping an adult, two counts of kidnapping a minor, one count of burglary, and one count of assault. He was also indicted on one count of fleeing or evading police and wanton endangerment of a police officer.
At his arraignment in Jefferson County Circuit Court, Judge Tracy Davis set Langford's bond at $1.25 million cash. He is scheduled back in court Sept. 11.
A jury will determine whether Langford meets the criteria of being a persistent felony offender.
If he is convicted of kidnapping, Langford could face life in prison.
Home invasion and kidnapping
Police said Langford broke into a woman's home just before 9:30 a.m. Aug. 8, and drove her and her two children to a PNC Bank on Shelbyville Road. He then demanded cash from tellers working the drive-thru.
Pictured: this image from Louisville Metro Police shows a person suspected of robbing a PNC bank running away from the drive-thru lane. (WDRB image)
"A man came through the drive-thru, had a weapon inside the vehicle believed to be a knife, and a woman was inside as well," said LMPD police spokesperson Dwight Mitchell. "He demanded the business cash and received an undetermined amount."
The woman was assaulted during the robbery, but Mitchell said her injuries weren't life-threatening. The children weren't physically harmed, but Mitchell said "it was very traumatic."
Police searched for Langford for about six hours before he was taken into custody around 4:20 p.m. on that Friday afternoon near a Best Buy on Shelbyville Road, which is less than a half mile from the bank robbery.
Woman and children kidnapped
The Louisville woman who was abducted from her home near The Oxmoor Center, along with her two children said she was forced to withdraw $20,000 from a local bank at knifepoint.
Jennifer Strong was making breakfast for her children Friday morning, August 8, 2025, when a man entered her home and kidnapped her and her two children, taking them to a bank so he could rob it. (WDRB image)
Jennifer Strong told WDRB that she was making breakfast for her children, when she heard her back door open twice.
A man, later identified as Langford, entered her home armed with a knife.
"He had a knife ... And he started to yell 'how many people are in this house,'" Strong said. "I put my hands up. I told him not to hurt us."
Langford ordered Strong, her 11-year-old son, and her 7-year-old son into a car. Strong sat in the driver’s seat with her older son beside her, and Langford sat in the back with her younger son.
With a knife pressed to Strong’s throat, Langford demanded she drive to the PNC Bank on Shelbyville Road near Oxmoor Center.
"My oldest son he had his arms around my neck, and he was begging the guy in the backseat not to kill me," Strong said.
When they got to the bank, Strong said Langford threatened the teller and demanded $20,000.
Langford then ordered the children out of the car. Strong feared she might never see them again.
"I yelled out to the car that I loved them, and I said a prayer and I grabbed my hand and I grabbed my chest and I said to myself this is it this is what it feels like to die – I told the bank 'he’s killing me now, he’s stabbing me again' and then they came out," Strong said.
The bank tellers spread $20,000 on the ground. Langford grabbed the cash and fled.
Strong was taken to the hospital with stab wounds that came within centimeters of her lung. She was released later the same day and reunited with her family.
"It was the best moment of life, it will stay the best moment of my life," she said.
Shock probation controversy
Langford was sentenced in 2024 on burglary and robbery charges, but he was released on shock probation three years into a 14 year sentence by Judge Jessica Green. Several state agencies deemed him a low risk for recidivism and ineligible for a court-ordered mental health program.
Langford was in custody for several years while the case played out, serving time in the jail in downtown Louisville. He also spent time in the Roederer Correctional Complex in Oldham County, where the state deemed his risk level low enough that he was moved to a halfway house.
Before Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Jessica Green granted Langford shock probation, she routinely asked those facilities to report his behavior, according to court records.
And both facilities sent letters to Green saying Langford was a model inmate with no disciplinary violations.
Court records show Langford has a history of mental illness and a traumatic brain injury.
Shock probation is meant for first-time offenders and, often, those charged with non-violent offenses. Technically this was Langford's first felony offense, though it was considered violent.
But Green granted Langford five years of shock probation with several conditions, including getting mental health treatment and staying on his medication.
Kentucky legislators have harshly criticized Green for her shock probation sentence, with at least one calling for her impeachment.
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