PALERMO – A couple suspected of two Montville burglaries involving the theft of a large sum of money lost their toddler daughters in the woods overnight Friday when they thought they were being chased by police.

A massive search began at 4 p.m. Friday when the father, Sean Anderson, 25, of Albion was located on the Chisholm Pond Road, Waldo County Sheriff’s Deputy Merl Reed said Sunday. When law enforcement officials learned that the mother, Kristie Anderson, also 25, and their two daughters, ages 1 1/2 and 2 1/2, were still in the woods, Maine State Police Trooper Steve Hills and his tracking canine, Ruger, were called in.

Scores of volunteers joined the hunt, Reed said, and the Sheepscot Fish & Game Club opened its facility for a command post. The Maine Warden Service searched by land and air.

Kristie Anderson was found around 9 a.m. Saturday by wardens, “but the girls were not with [her],” Reed said. An hour later, B.J. Sherman, a friend of the family, found the toddlers together, he said.

“They were not dressed appropriately for winter,” Reed said, noting both girls were taken to Maine General Hospital in Augusta suffering from hypothermia and frostbite. The children’s names were not released.

Kristie Anderson was taken to Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, Reed said. He did not know the nature of her injuries. Anderson was in stable condition, according to a nursing supervisor on Sunday.

Sean Anderson was arrested at 11 a.m. Saturday and charged with two counts each of burglary and theft, Reed said. He still was in Waldo County Jail late Sunday morning. Kristie Anderson will be charged with two counts each of burglary and theft when she is released from the hospital, he said.

“Additional charges are likely against both of the Andersons,” he said.

The ordeal stems from two Montville burglaries on Thursday at a Choate Road residence and a North Trotting Park Road home.

At 2:30 p.m. that day, the Choate Road home was entered and $2,900 in cash was stolen. At 8 p.m., two safes containing a large amount of money and paperwork were taken from the North Trotting Park Road house, Reed said.

“That’s what started it all,” he noted.

An investigation led to an all-points bulletin for a 1997 red Ford Taurus and a warrant was issued by Chief Deputy Bob Keating for Kristie Anderson, Reed said.

Apparently, the Andersons pulled the vehicle into a tote road Friday afternoon and heard dogs barking. Thinking they were being chased by police, they fled into the woods with their children. In the confusion, they all got separated.

The vehicle was spotted on the road, and when police arrived, Sean Anderson was out of the woods.

Law enforcement officers were looking for the couple, Reed said, but “we were not pursuing them. We were not chasing them.” The dogs barking were not connected to police, he said.

“It was a great effort from the warden service and the volunteers,” he said. “The sheriff’s office thanks the Fish & Game and the volunteers.”