BELFAST – An Albion couple accused of abandoning their toddlers overnight in the woods of Palermo during a drug-taking binge were ordered held on $15,000 bail in a court appearance Tuesday.

Sean R. Anderson, 24, and Kristie Anderson, 25, made their initial appearances in 5th District Court on two counts of burglary, a count of theft and one of endangering the welfare of a child. They made no statements and were whisked to the Waldo County Jail after their brief appearance before Judge John Nivison.

The Andersons allegedly left their daughters, Kaylan, who turns 3 next Tuesday, and 17-month-old Kallie, to fend for themselves in woods off the Chisholm Pond Road in Palermo on Friday afternoon. The father was found later that day; the children and their mother the next morning.

“If it was any other night or any other January, we would be looking at three bodies,” Waldo County Detective Bryant White said Tuesday.

White said the lowest temperature overnight Friday was 47 degrees. The children survived their ordeal in relatively good condition despite being in their stocking feet and wearing winter jackets over pajamas.

The sisters were treated for hypothermia and minor frostbite at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta and released to their grandmother on Monday. Maine Child Protective Services likely will become involved in the case, said District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau.

According to an affidavit White filed with the case, the Andersons were anxious that Friday afternoon because they knew that authorities wanted to talk to them about two burglaries that were reported the day before in Montville in Waldo County. More than $12,000 in cash was taken in the break-ins.

White said the couple had been on a drug binge for days and believed the police were closing in on them. To evade them, they decided to ditch their car, which they had painted black the night before to fool authorities, and call someone to pick them up.

Sean Anderson told police that he and his wife had been injecting cocaine for two days and took a final shot just before they left the car and entered the woods. The process is known as “booting,” which is slang for injecting.

Anderson told White they “became paranoid” when they heard dogs barking and the sound of off-road vehicles and ran deeper into the woods, thinking police were after them. They were not.

Anderson said he managed to find his way out of the woods but left his wife and children behind because she was “exhausted and hallucinating.” Anderson said his wife told him she would wait with the children until the police found her.

Anderson called his mother at around 4 p.m. She in turn notified authorities, and a search for the woman and children was instituted immediately.

State police and game wardens attempted to find Kristie Anderson and her children with tracking dogs but were unable to pick up the scent. The Maine Army National Guard also took part in the search using a helicopter with infrared imaging equipment. Teams of volunteers combed the woods looking for the missing family.

Kristie Anderson finally was located at 9 a.m. Saturday about a mile and a half from her car. The children were spotted from the air and located a half-hour later sitting on a pile of rocks about 1,200 feet from the car.

Kristie Anderson was taken to Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, where she was treated for exposure.

During an interview with police from her hospital bed, Anderson said the children were with her and her husband when they committed the burglaries, White noted.

She also confirmed her husband’s admission about shooting cocaine for two days and taking another injection before entering the woods. Anderson told police she could not remember much about her time in the woods because she was “hallucinating and passed out.”

Anderson told police that when she came to and the children were nowhere to be seen, she assumed they were with her husband. She was released from the hospital Monday and immediately placed under arrest.

Although Rushlau requested bail of $25,000 cash or $50,000 single surety, Judge Nivision set the bail at $10,000 cash for each defendant for the burglaries and theft and $5,000 cash for each on the child endangering charge.

“Everything about this suggests they are flight risks,” Rushlau said. “They have already shown that they have cut themselves off from normal social behavior.”

Searsport lawyer Peter Mason was appointed to represent Kristie Anderson, and Belfast lawyer Clifton Fuller was appointed to represent her husband.

Appearances on the burglary and theft charges were scheduled for Feb. 23 in Waldo County Superior Court. A probable-cause hearing on the child endangering charge was scheduled for District Court on Feb. 28. Rushlau said the couple would be charged with a pair of Knox County burglaries at a later date.