Couple, two brothers charged in Martelle bank robbery last month    

Two brothers armed with shotguns, and the husband and wife who were their alleged getaway drivers, pleaded not guilty Monday to robbing a Martelle bank last month. Andrew Palmer, 24, Shiloh Palmer, 22, Peter Olinger, 41, and Elizabeth Olinger, 25, pleaded not guilty to bank robbery, armed bank robbery, using a firearm in a violent crime and the use of fire to commit a federal felony crime. The indictment was filed and unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court.

Prosecutors asked for the defendants to remain in jail but they will have a joint hearing Wednesday to ask a magistrate to release them pending trial.

According to Jones County Sheriff's reports and the indictment, the Palmer brothers, each armed with shotguns, entered the Exchange State Bank shortly before noon April 6, demanded cash and left the bank in a getaway car driven by Peter Olinger.

Later, the three met Elizabeth Olinger at another location, where they abandoned their car and switched to the car Elizabeth was driving, according to a sheriff's report. Deputies arrested the four in a traffic stop hours later.

The accused robbers set a fire during the crime, according to the indictment, but there are no details.

Jones County Sheriff Greg Graver said last month officers recovered some of the stolen money from a mobile home in Mechanicsville where Peter and Elizabeth Olinger and Andrew Palmer lived, but he didn't say how much money was recovered. Investigators also found nearly 30 animals in the mobile home, Cedar County reported. Authorities removed 10 dogs, 12 cats, two turtles, two guinea pigs and several birds and fish from the home. The animals were taken to a shelter in Tipton.