1. Name and Address of Reporting Person
Leep, Bruce E.
3106 Condit
Highland, IN 46322
2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol
First Financial Bancorp (FFBC)
3. IRS or Social Security Number of Reporting Person (Voluntary)
307-38-1303
4. Statement for Month/Year
10/2002
5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Day/Year)
6. Relationship of Reporting Person(s) to Issuer (Check all applicable)
(X) Director ( ) 10% Owner
( ) Officer (give title below) ( ) Other (specify below)
7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check Applicable Line)
(X) Form filed by One Reporting Person
( ) Form filed by More than One Reporting Person
TABLE I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
+---------------------------------+----------+-------------+-----------------------------+----------------+-----------+------------+
|1. Title of Security |2. Trans- |3. Trans- |4. Securities Acquired (A) |5. Amount of |6. Owner- |7. Nature |
| | action | action | or Disposed of (D) | Securities | ship | of In- |
| | Date | Code | | Beneficially | Form: | direct |
| | | | | Owned at | Direct | Bene- |
| | (Month/ | | | End of | (D) or | ficial |
| | Day/ +-------+-----+-----------+------+----------+ Month | Indirect| Owner- |
| | Year) |Code |V |Amount |A/D |Price | | (I) | ship |
+---------------------------------+----------+-------+-----+-----------+------+----------+----------------+-----------+------------+
Common Stock 264217 D
Common Stock 208727 I Spouse
Common Stock 0 I Restricted
Award
Common Stock 73 I Joint
w/Spouse
FFBC (Directors Fee Stock Plan) 10/07/2002 P 140 A $18.2500 1931 D
TABLE II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned
+-------------+--------+----------+---------+-----------+---------------------+----------------+----------+--------+-------+-------+
|1. |2. |3. |4. |5. |6. |7. |8. |9. |10. |11. |
| | | | | | | | |Number |Owner- | |
| | | | | | | | |of |ship | |
| | | | | | | | |Deriv- |Form of| |
| | | | | | |Title and Amount| |ative |Deriv- | |
| | | | | | |of Underlying | |Secur- |ative |Nature |
| |Conver- | | |Number of | |Securities | |ities |Secur- |of |
| |sion or | | |Derivative |Date Exercisable +-------+--------+ |Benefi- |ity: |In- |
| |Exercise| | |Securities |and Expiration Date | |Amount | |cially |Direct |direct |
| |Price of|Transac- |Transac- |Acquired(A)|(Month/Day/Year) | |or | |Owned |(D) or |Bene- |
|Title of |Deriv- |tion Date |tion Code|Disposed(D)+----------+----------+ |Number |Price of |at End |In- |ficial |
|Derivative |ative |(Month/ +------+--+-----+-----+Date Exer-|Expira- | |of |Derivative|of |direct |Owner- |
|Security |Security|Day/Year) |Code |V |(A) |(D) |cisable |tion Date |Title |Shares |Security |Month |(I) |ship |
+-------------+--------+----------+------+--+-----+-----+----------+----------+-------+--------+----------+--------+-------+-------+
1999 (NQ) $19.2641 08/24/2009 Common 8663 D
Stock Option Stock
2001 (NQ) $15.6 04/24/2011 Common 8663 D
Stock Option Stock
Explanation of Responses:
SIGNATURE OF REPORTING PERSON
/s/ Terri J. Ziepfel
DATE
10/07/2002