Suspects await court

The two suspects in a series of bank robberies in the region remain in jail as their case makes it was through the first of what could be several legal jurisdictions.

Officials with the Rutland District Court in Rutland, Vt. said Jill Ludwig and John Maynard each await further court action following their arraignments Nov. 3.

It is likely as defense and prosecution go forward, the cases might not make it into a courtroom until after the first of the year, officials said. An early status conference is scheduled for Dec. 19.

Ludwig and Maynard are the only suspects in a string of bank robberies that started in Rutland County in early September with the robbery of the Merchant’s Bank in Rutland. A month later the same suspect, later identified as Maynard, robbed the Lake Sunapee Bank in West Rutland. At the end of October in less than a week two suspects twice hit the Main Street branch of TD Bank in Granville.

They are also suspects in the daylight robbery of the Citizens Bank branch in Poultney Nov. 2.

Eyewitness Jeff Roberts provided police with a description of the suspect’s vehicle including the complete license plate number.

The plate number provided police with enough information to capture the couple little more than an hour after the robbery.

Washington County District Attorney Kevin Kortright said the couple likely faces prosecution in Vermont before being available for prosecution in New York State.

After sentencing in Rutland County, Ludwig and Maynard might be transferred to New York for prosecution before being sent back to Vermont to serve out their sentences.

Only after serving out their time in Vermont would they return to New York to serve time for the Granville robberies.

All of the transferring could be rendered unnecessary if the federal government decides to step in and charge Ludwig and Maynard, Kortright said.